UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   AT  LOS  ANGELES 

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Girls   in    their   Earl)    Teens   arc  Often   Taller  than   Boys  the   Same 
or  Even  Older.      Both  these  Children  are  Fourteen  Years  Old. 


!  THE 

HIGH-SCHOOL  AGE 


By 
IRVING  KING 

Collet e  of  Edo«ttUn.  The  S»te  Vairenixf  »f  U»i 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  SERIES 
Edited  by  M.  V.  O'SHEA 

ProfMior  erf  EdaaKioB.  The  Uurenity  «f  WiKoaila 


5/(J4 


£o 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright  1914 
The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 


PRESS    OF 

BRAUNWORTH    k    CO. 

BOOKBINDERS    ANO    PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN,    N.    T. 


/  r 

EDITORS  INTRODUCTION 

Probably  most  people  appreciate  that  a  human 
being  in  his  progress  from  birth  to  maturity  passes 
through  certain  ages  or  epochs,  each  characterized 
by  peculiar  tendencies  and  activities.  If  one  should 
ask  a  man  whose  business  it  is  to  study  human 
nature  for  practical  reasons  which  of  these  epochs 
is  of  the  greatest  importance,  he  would  undoubtedly 
say  the  period  of  the  teens.  He  would  probably 
declare  that  during  this  period  the  individual  is 
being  molded  into  final  form  in  body  and  mind,  and 
that  whatever  impressions  can  be  made  upon  him 
at  this  time  will  be  likely  to  be  permanent.  People 
are  beginning  to  take  this  view ;  for  during  the  last 
few  years  much  has  been  said  by  observers  and  in- 
vestigators respecting  the  chief  characteristics  of 
this  period.  All  have  noted  the  appearance  of  new 
interests  and  activities,  and  the  development  of  ex- 
treme sensitiveness  to  various  influences  which  have 
been  practically  unnoticed  up  until  this  time.  The 
views  of  the  practical  man  of  affairs  and  the  scien- 
tific student  of  mental  development  have  been  in 
accord  with  the  views  of  the  poets,  who  never  tire 
of  describing  the  freshness  and  enthusiasm  and 
abounding  vigor,  as  well  as  the  excesses  and  the 
strains  and  stresses  of  this  age. 

In  planning  the  series  on  Childhood  and  Youth, 
it  was  provided  that  much  attention  should  be  given 
to  a  practical  discussion  of  the  epoch  covered  sub- 
stantially by  the  high-school  period.  The  present 
volume  is  devoted  wholly  to  an  exposition  of  the 
characteristics  and  needs  of  the  high-school  age. 
Professor  King  has  presented  in  simple,  straight- 
forward language  most  of  the  more  important  re- 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

suits  of  modern  investigations  regarding  the  phys- 
ical changes  which  take  place  during  the  early  teens, 
and  the  intellectual  and  emotional  developments 
which  occur  parallel  with  the  physical  changes,  or 
follow  after  them  very  closely.  He  has  also  dis- 
cussed questions  pertaining  to  the  development  of 
fundamental  impulses  in  both  boys  and  girls,  and 
the  educational  problems  which  issue  therefrom. 
He  has  considered  questions  of  health  and  school 
work,  and  practical  matters  pertaining  to  the  con- 
servation of  the  energies  of  high-school  pupils,  and 
making  their  work  in  the  school  more  efficient  than 
it  has  been  in  the  past.  He  has  introduced  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  new  and  concrete  material 
which  bears  directly  upon  the  every-day  life  of  the 
high-school  pupil,  in  respect  alike  to  his  studies  and 
to  his  conduct  within  and  without  the  school.  He 
has  dwelt  especially  upon  the  development  of  the 
self  during  the  teens,  and  he  has  shown  that  in 
effect  the  individual  has  a  sort  of  new  birth  during 
this  epoch — the  birth  of  the  spirit  which  is  as  im- 
portant as  the  first  birth  of  the  body.  An  apprecia- 
tion of  this  yital  transformation  during  the  teens 
will  aid  the  teacher  and  the  parent  to  understand 
and  deal  the  more  wisely  with  the  boy  or  the  girl 
who  is  passing  rapidly  from  childhood  to  maturity. 
There  is  probably  no  period  in  the  individual's 
development  when  he  has  so  many  conflicts  with 
adults  as  during  the  early  teens.  When  he  is  chang- 
ing so  rapidly  in  body  and  mind,  his  individuality 
suddenly  looms  up  in  home  and  school ;  and  it  often 
arouses  antagonism  in  parents  and  teachers.  The 
reading  of  this  volume  should  help  any  one  charged 
with  the  training  of  youth  to  see  what  activities  of 
either  the  boy  or  the  girl  are  normal  during  this 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

epoch,  and  so  should  be  encouraged  or  at  least  not 
opposed.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  dangers  if 
the  individual  be  let  follow  his  own  plans  without 
direction  from  any  source.  Professor  King  makes 
this  apparent  in  his  discussion  of  the  instability  of 
many  adolescent  boys  and  girls,  and  their  need  of 
wise  instruction,  which  should  not  be  obtrusive  or 
offensive,  but  which  should  nevertheless  be  effective. 

The  book  is  designed  for  students  of  human  na- 
ture and  education,  and  also  for  those  who  are 
responsible  for  the  care  and  culture  of  boys  and 
girls  during  the  period  of  the  teens.  It  is  a  book 
of  interpretation  of  phenomena  in  the  first  place, 
and  one  of  counsel  and  guidance  in  the  second  place. 
It  is  written  in  the  spirit  of  modern  science,  and 
so  is  modest  and  reasonable.  It  is  written  also  with 
a  view  to  assist  the  practical  trainer  of  youth,  and 
so  the  discussion  centers  around  those  aspects  of 
development  and  of  education  which  are  of  chief 
interest  and  importance  in  the  home  and  in  the 
school.  M.  V.  O'Shea. 

Madison,  Wisconsin. 


PREFACE 

No  period  of  life  has  been  so  celebrated  in  litera- 
ture as  has  the  period  of  youth,  or  adolescence. 
Nor  is  it  a  time  which  has  interested  only  the  poet 
and  the  story  writer;  the  scientist,  also,  in  his  search 
for  new  fields  for  investigation  finds  in  youth  as 
many  problems  as  he  may  well  desire.  There  is  no 
season  in  the  life  of  the  boy  or  girl  which,  to  parent 
and  teacher,  is  more  interesting  and  more  baffling 
than  are  these  years  which  we  may  roughly  consider 
as  lying  between  thirteen  and  twenty.  Certainly  no 
period  of  life  is  more  apt  to  be  misunderstood  by 
older  people  than  is  this;  nor  is  there  an  age  upon 
which,  in  the  name  of  science,  greater  extrava- 
gancies of  thought  and  more  exaggerated  assertions 
have  been  lavished. 

In  fact,  so  little  do  we  know  definitely  regarding 
the  nature  of  the  changes  of  boys  and  girls,  as  they 
pass  through  youth,  that  we  may  still  too  easily  yield 
to  the  temptation  to  make  large  use  of  the  finely 
wrought  phrases  of  the  poet  when  we  think  and  talk 
of  this  spring-time  of  life.  However,  it  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  the  student  of  adolescence  should 
entirely  ignore  the  literary  interpretations.  For 
while  the  poet  may  yield  to  the  impulse  to  become 
the  maker  of  exaggerated  phrases,  it  is  yet  possible 
that  he  has  an  understanding  of  the  heart  of  youth 
that  the  scientist  will  never  get  if  he  sticks  to  his 
technical  descriptions  and  to  his  bald  tables  of  sta- 
tistics. 

The  purpose  of  these  pages  is  to  lead  to  a  study 
of  the  period  of  youth,  especially  in  its  school  and 
social  relationships.  While  we  shall  in  every  case 
hope  to  present  facts,  our  method  will  not  be  con- 


PREFACE 

fined  to  that  of  abstract  science  but  will  make  use 
of  sympathetic  description  as  well.  We  shall  hope, 
if  it  may  be  possible,  to  picture  the  real  boys  and 
girls  of  the  teens  and  specifically  of  the  high  school 
with  the  direct  purpose  of  determining  how  school 
work  may  be  more  fully  adjusted  to  their  needs. 

Modern  civilization  has  not  been  so  successful  in 
dealing  with  the  problem  of  childhood  as  it  has  been 
in  the  extraction  of  gold  from  the  rocks  or  in  the 
building  of  battle-ships.  Possibly  our  age  is  more 
intelligent  in  regard  to  its  children  than  the  world 
of  a  century  ago  was.  As  to  that  we  can  not  say. 
We  only  know  that  we  are  not  so  successful  as  we 
should  be,  compared  with  our  advances  in  other 
lines  of  endeavor.  A  superficial  interest  in  child- 
hood is  shown  in  the  vast  sums  spent  in  education, 
but  there  is  general  lack  of  interest  in  those  finer 
adjustments  of  the  educational  process  which  are 
absolutely  essential  to  their  real  efficiency.  It  is 
much  easier  to  induce  the  legislature  of  a  farming 
state  to  appropriate  fifteen  thousand  dollars  for  the 
study  and  prevention  of  hog  cholera  than  to  induce 
it  to  give  a  single  dollar  for  the  study  and  preven- 
tion of  immorality  among  its  boys  and  girls.  Corn 
and  hogs,  stocks  and  bonds,  seem  to  loom  large  in 
the  minds  of  the  masses,  while  the  problem  of  child- 
welfare  can  take  care  of  itself.  We  are  slow  in 
casting  off  completely  the  doctrine  of  laissez-faire, 
the  "let-alone-and-it-will-take-care-of-itself"  doc- 
trine of  the  older  economists.  But  less  and  less  can 
the  problems  of  child-welfare  be  let  alone.  In  fact, 
the  policy  of  neglect  has  not  a  single  prop  to  sup- 
port it  in  the  intense  life  of  the  modern  world. 

And  yet  the  American  public  is  interested  in  the 
education  of   its   children.     Its  interest,   however, 


PREFACE 

finds  expression  chiefly  in  certain  of  the  grosser  and 
more  obvious  phases  of  equipment.  Much  remains 
to  be  done  along  the  lines  of  fine  discriminating 
adaptation  to  the  physical,  mental  and  social  char- 
acteristics of  boy  life  and  girl  life.  It  is  the  purpose 
of  the  following  pages  to  point  out  some  of  the  more 
needful  adaptations  of  this  type.  The  matter  has 
been  presented,  as  far  as  possible,  in  non-technical 
language.  The  author  has  purposely  attempted  to 
draw  largely  from  general  literature  in  his  quota- 
tions rather  than  to  depend  exclusively  upon  the  ob- 
servations of  professed  psychologists.  The  result- 
ing treatment  may  be  lacking  in  the  technique  of 
the  scientist,  but  it  is  believed  it  will  be  of  more 
immediate  value  to  parent  and  teacher. 

I.  K. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


I  Waste  in  the  High  School ' 

Evidence  of  lack  of  fine  adjustment— Where 
are  the  children  in  the  teens  found?— A  challenge 
for  thought  in  these  conditions — The  result  of 
many  causes — The  high  school  does  not  hold  its 
pupils— Dulness  of  pupils  a  minor  factor— Youth 
an  educational  opportunity — The  conditions  of 
greater  efficiency. 

II  The  Physical  Changes  of  the  High-School  Years      11 

The  fundamental  character  of  the  physical  z*" 
changes— The  growth  acceleration  of  the  early 
teens — Individual  records  contrasted  with  mass 
records— Girls  slightly  in  advance  of  boys— Other 
growth  phases — General  intensification  of  all  vital 
forces— Sex  maturity  the  fundamental  factor— 
The  time,  variable — Influence  of  economic  condi- 
tions— Influence  of  environment — Early  and  late 
pubescence  compared — 111  health  not  normal — 
But  it  may  easily  develop — Overstimulation  easy — 
Teachers  may  observe  these  things — Relation  of 
the  physical  changes  to  psychical  development. 

III  Physical  Development  and  School  Efficiency         31 

Summary  of  preceding  discussion — Relation  of 
physiological  maturity  to  mental  development — A 
period  of  heavy  elimination  from  school — Many 
conditions  influence  school  attendance — Growth 
conditions  —  Social  conditions  —  Increased  effi- 
ciency from  better  adjustment— Physiological  age 
and  elimination— The  advantage  of  maturity— 
What  investigations  reveal — A  New  York  experi- 
ment— Need  of  separating  children  of  different 
degrees  of  maturity — Doctor  Crampton's  comment 
— Maturity  brings  a  new  mental  outlook — Mature 
boys  in  the  lower  grades  naturally  dull— "Bright" 
little  boys — No  exact  observations  on  girls — Girls 
often  do  better  school  work  than  boys — Superior- 
ity due  to  girls'  more  advanced  development 

IV  A  Concrete  Case  of  School  Efficiency    ...      47 

Maturity  and  school  ability  in  a  grammar  school 
— The  complexity  of  this  school  group — Differ- 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

ences  in  pupils  of  the  same  age — Illustrated  in  the 
twelve-and-a-half  to  thirteen-year-old  group — 
Clear  differences  in  mentality  in  these  boys — 
School  grades  of  the  different  physiological  age 
groups — Grades  of  the  younger  and  older  age 
groups — Normal  development  better  than  de- 
ferred— Evidence  in  the  marks  of  these  children 
— Maturity  also  favorable  to  school  progress  in 
the  grades — Conclusions  in  accord  with  other  in- 
vestigators— Smedley's  findings  in  Chicago — God- 
dard's  study  of  the  physical  development  of  the 
feeble-minded — The  mature  boy  in  grammar 
school  out  of  place — High-school  methods  should 
be  adapted  to  degree  of  maturity — May  the  ma- 
turing scholar  be  overworked? — Difference  be- 
tween what  they  can  do  and  should  do — Should 
be  free  from  worry;  normal  motives — Importance 
of  physical  exercise — Explanation  of  the  phys- 
ical weakness  sometimes  noted — Complexity  of 
modern  life — Cooperation  of  school  and  home  es- 
sential. 

V  The  Mental  Changes  of  the  Teens;  the  Earlier 

Years 66 

The  illusion  of  distinct  periods — Development 
a  continuous  process — Illustrated  in  physical  ^ 
growth — In  the  development  of  the  sex  impulses  /* 
— Reasons  for  belief  in  abrupt  transitions — The 
point  of  view  of  this  study — Difficulty  of  describ- 
ing the  period  of  youth — The  "average"  youth — 
The  value  of  the  less  usual  types — The  seeming 
unconcern  of  the  early  teens — Variations  in  indi- 
viduals— Peculiar  difficulty  of  school  adjustment. 

VI  Broadening  Vision     .       .      .       .*     .       .       .      .79 

The  promise  of  the  middle  teens — The  high- 
school  years — New  interests  develop — Abundant 
life — The  new  self — Varieties  of  change — New 
significance  of  social  influences — Contrast  with  the 
first  birth — Why  study  adolescence? — Continuity 
of  the  new  and  old  selves — The  quest  of  the 
youth — His  spirit  characterized — Spiritual  inten- 
sity high — The  need  of  conserving  childhood  val- 
ues— The  foundation  of  sound  maturity  in  a 
healthful  childhood — Avoiding  a  break  with  child- 
hood experience — Significance  of  the  self-asser- 
tion of  youth. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACE 

VII  The  Birth  of  a  New  Self 95 

The  new  self— The  impulse  for  self-assertion— 
The  youth  a  dreamer — Sense  of  mystery — Crises 
in  development — An  illustration — The  youth  falls 
in  love — The  sex  impulse  the  hidden  spring- 
Early  diffusion  needful — Associated  with  esthetic 
appreciation — Overstimulation  in  modern  life — 
The  educational  need — Secondary  manifestations  . 
— Impatience  with  existing  conditions — High  as-  " 
pirations — Youth  and  genius — Youth  and  crime. 

VIII  Characteristic    Phases    and   Dangers    of   the 

New  Self HO 

Practical  consequences — Character  of  the  later 
teens  often  permanent — The  final  stage  in  char- 
acter building — The  self-confidence  of  youth — A 
danger  and  an  opportunity — Adolescent  types — 
Explanation — Need  of  wise  direction — An  il- 
lustration— The  youth  must  help  himself — Help 
from  older  people — Help  of  friends — An  illustra- 
tion— A  supreme  opportunity  for  moral  training 
— An  opportunity  largely  neglected — A  suggestive 
method — Opportunities  for  social  service. 

IX  The  High-School  Period  in  Retrospect   .      .      .125 

Reminiscences  of  high-school  life — Value  of 
such  a  record — Range  of  individuality — High 
school  a  new  world  to  some  pupils — Difficulties  of 
entering — First  impression  of  teachers — Suscept- 
ibility to  teacher's  personality — The  "understand- 
ing teacher" — Influence  of  teachers  on  pupils' 
conduct — Conceptions  of  the  ideal  teacher — High- 
school  pupils'  conceptions  of  a  good  teacher — Fine 
points  well-appreciated — Transition  years — Ideals 
— Dreams  of  greatness — New  attitude  toward 
the  other  sex — Liked  to  think  out  things — Impa- 
tience with  school  restrictions — Vocational  inter- 
ests— Missionary  zeal — Chief  value  of  high 
school. 

X  Economic    Relations    and    Social    Interests    of 

High-School  Pupils 154 

What  are  the  characteristics  of  high-school 
students? — From  what  economic  and  social  strata? 
— Great  expansion  of  high-school  population — 
Racial  stocks  in  the  New  York  high  schools — 
Economic  status — Social  conditions  represented — 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGK 

Comparison  with  the  Middle  West — Vocational 
intentions  of  high-school  pupils — Comparison  of 
New  York  and  Iowa — Pupil's  estimate  of  the 
value  of  the  high-school  course  determines  his 
length  of  stay — Reaction  to  studies — Differences 
between  boys  and  girls — Mathematics  difficult — 
Data  on  failures  from  a  single  school. 

XI  The  Study  Habits  and  Amusements  of  High- 

School  Pupils 171 

Hours  of  study  outside  of  school — Is  success  in 
studies  related  to  outside  study? — Number  of 
evenings  per  week  at  home — Relation  between 
evenings  at  home  and  school  efficiency — Work  at 
home — Number  who  earn  money  outside  of 
school — Kinds  of  work — Bearing  on  "juvenile  oc- 
cupations" problem — Degree  of  relation  between 
outside  work  and  vocational  interest — Should 
there  be  a  larger  relation? — The  community's  re- 
sponsibility— Parties  per  month — Moving-picture 
shows  and  theaters — Is  the  time  devoted  to  these 
diversions  excessive? — Relation  between  outside 
interests  and  "nervousness." 

XII  The  Relation  of  Success  in  High  School  to  En- 

tering Age 185 

School  success  depends  on  various  conditions — 
These  vary  with  age  of  pupil — Range  of  age  of 
high-school  entrants — Significance  of  low  median 
age  of  entrance — Evidence  of  the  superior  ability 
of  high-school  entrants — Percentages  of  early  en- 
trants— Their  subsequent  records  what? — Early 
entrance  favorable  to  graduation — More  ready 
adjustment  by  younger  pupils — Maturity  distribu- 
tion of  one  class — The  graduates  a  younger  group 
than  the  non-graduates — Similar  data  from  New 
York — The  ideal  age  of  high-school  entrance — 
Period  of  mental  readjustment  apparently  unfa- 
vorable for  entrance — Present  high  schools  not 
well  adjusted  to  the  needs  of  older  pupils—Time 
spent  to  complete  high-school  course — Quality  of 
work  of  the  graduates  and  non-graduates — Illus- 
tration from  Iowa — Illustration  from  New  York 
— Evidence  from  Chicago  and  Kansas  City — Is  the 
small  school  really  superior? 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACE 

XIII    The  Adaptation  of  the  High   School  to  the 

Needs  of  Its  Pupils 206 

Greater  efficiency  the  aim  of  our  study— A 
knowledge  of  the  pupil  prerequisite — Adaptations 
needed — The  mental  attitudes  of  the  pupils  must 
be  considered — The  pupil's  difficulty  in  getting 
started — Need  of  friendly  relations  with  teachers 
— Advisory  systems — Importance  of  preliminary 
information  regarding  pupils — The  function  of 
the  high-school  adviser — Relation  of  the  adviser 
to  the  parent — Matters  in  which  the  pupil  needs 
counsel — Some  problems  of  administration — The 
personality  of  the  adviser — Should  teachers  be  se- 
lected on  this  basis? — The  future  of  advisory  sys- 
tems —  Other  adjustments  —  Study  programs — 
Teaching  pupils  how  to  study — The  "conference 
hour" — The  problem  of  coeducation — The  influ- 
ence of  difference  in  maturity  of  boys  and  girls — 
A  possible  adjustment  in  "segregation" — Differ- 
ences in  the  work  of  boys  and  girls — Possible  in 
large  schools. 

Index        ....      »•      «      .....>.    229 


THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  AGE 


THE  HIGH-SCHOOL  AGE 

CHAPTER  I 

WASTE  IN  THE  HIGH   SCHOOL 

RECENT  extensions  of  public  education  have 
,  nowhere  been  more  striking  than  in  those 
phases  which  deal  with  children  in  the  period  of 
puberty  and  early  adolescence.  The  rapid  devel- 
opment of  public  high  schools,  and  of  the  various 
types  of  vocational  schools,  is  a  striking  proof  of 
the  concern  felt  by  the  country  in  its  citizens-soon- 
to-be. 

However,  the  vast  development  of  the  machinery 
of  education  has  not  as  yet  been  accompanied  by 
Evidence  of  a  lack  a  corresponding  development  of 
of  fine  adjustment  ability  to  reach  all  boys  and  girls 
of  this  age.  And,  furthermore,  those  whom  the 
school  does  reach  fail,  in  large  degree,  to  ad- 
vance far  enough  in  their  courses  even  to  enter  the 
special  courses  and  special  schools  which  have  been 
prepared  for  them.  Could  some  of  this  loss  be 
prevented  by  a  better  understanding  of  the  boys 
and  girls  themselves?  It  is  the  conviction  of  the 
author  that  this  might  very  well  be. 

The  education  of  boys  and  girls  in  their  teens 
i 


2  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

will  be  effective  only  in  proportion  to  our  accurate 
understanding  of  their  characteristics  and  their 
needs. 

We  shall,  in  the  pages  that  follow,  for  con- 
venience and  brevity  commonly  use  the  term  youth 
to  designate  the  years  from  thirteen  to  twenty,  and 
thus  include  both  the  time  of  puberty  and  that  of 
early  adolescence. 

In  taking  up  the  study  of  youth  it  is  important 

first  of  all  to  know  where  the  children  of  this  age 

,„,  '.  are  to  be  found.     On  this  point 

Where  are  the  r 

children  in  their  we  can  speak  only  roughly.  It 
is  probably  true  in  most  localities 
that  the  larger  number  of  them  are  not  in  school 
at  all  beyond  the  fourteenth  year  and  many  have 
dropped  out  before  that  time.  Thus,  from  figures 
published  for  Philadelphia  for  1908,  (1)*  there 
were  on  a  given  date  actually  in  school  a  little  over 
15,500  twelve-year-olds;  14,200  thirteen-year-olds. 
These  children  were  nearly  all  scattered  through 
the  eight  grades  below  the  high  schools.  Of 
the  fourteen-year-olds,  the  number  dropped  to 
8,900,  of  whom  about  1,200  were  in  high  school; 
of  the  fifteen-year-olds,  there  were  4,500  in  school, 
of  whom  about  1,400  were  attending  high  school. 
Of  the  sixteen-year-olds  only  3,100  were  in  public 
schools — a  group  barely  one-fifth  as  large  as  that 
of  the  twelve-year-olds.     While  we  should  not  con- 


*Figures  in  parentheses  refer  to  authors  cited  at  the  ends 
of  the  chapters. 


WASTE   IN   THE    HIGH    SCHOOL       3 

elude  that  exactly  one-fifth  of  the  fifteen  and  six- 
teen-year-olds were  all  of  those  ages  left  in  school,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  sixteen- 
year-olds  had  actually  dropped  out.  We  can  infer 
from  these  figures  that,  in  the  middle  and  crucial 
years  of  youth,  the  bulk  of  the  boys  and  girls  are 
not  in  school  and  that  a  large  number  of  those  who 
are  in  school  are  yet  below  the  high-school  grade, 
where  they  normally  belong.  Take  the  fifteen-year- 
old  group;  all  of  these  should  if  they  had  made 
proper  progress  be  ready  by  that  time  for  high 
school,  but  out  of  forty-five  hundred  who  have  re- 
mained in  school  only  fourteen  hundred  have  at- 
tained that  degree  of  advancement.  These  figures 
from  Philadelphia  are  probably  fairly  typical  of 
conditions  in  all  large  cities  and  to  a  degree  of 
smaller  cities  and  towns.  (2)  They  throw  into 
clear  relief  two  points,  which  we  ever  need  to  bear 
in  mind :  the  first,  that  boys  and  girls  in  the  period 
of  youth  are  by  no  means  all  in  school;  and  the 
second,  of  those  in  school  only  a  small  proportion 
are  actually  as  far  advanced  in  their  grades  as  they 
should  be. 

We  are  thus  at  the  outset  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  need  of  just  such  a  study  as  that  which 

A   .   „         ,  we    here    propose.      There    is    a 

A  challenge  for  r     r 

thought  in  these        challenge  for  thought  in  the  fact 

that  large  numbers  of  boys  and 

girls  are  not  in  school  at  all  in  the  crucial  years  of 

youth  and  of  those  who  are  in  school,  so  many  fall 


4  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

short  of  those  grades  of  work  which  are  ordinarily 
supposed  to  meet  the  needs  of  this  period  of  life. 
In  a  word,  it  is  evident  that  our  great  public  edu- 
cation machinery  is  failing  absolutely  to  reach  large 
numbers  of  children  in  this  most  interesting  and 
most  important  period  of  mental  and  physical  de- 
velopment, for,  as  we  have  seen  in  Philadelphia  in 
1908,  the  large  majority,  by  far,  of  the  pupils  be- 
tween twelve  and  eighteen  who  were  in  school  at 
all  were  in  the  elementary  grades  rather  than  in 
the  high  schools. 

In  answer,  then,  to  the  question — where  are  the 
adolescents?  (using  the  term  broadly)  we  can  say 
that  a  large  number  are  not  in  school  at  all  and,  of 
those  in  school,  the  great  majority  do  not  reach  the 
high  school,  and  of  those  reaching  the  high  school 
from  one-half  to  nine-tenths  drop  out  without 
finishing. 

Many  causes,  to  be  sure,  cooperate  to  produce 
this  wide  distribution  through  the  grades  of  the 
The  result  of  boys  and  girls  in  their  teens.     A 

many  causes  fairly    large    number    are    slow 

mentally  and  could  not  under  any  circumstances 
get  through  the  grades  of  the  public  school,  as 
those  grades  are  at  present  laid  out.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  a  part  of  the  failure  of  the  school 
to  reach  the  youth  is  due  to  lack  of  adjustment  of 
the  school  to  the  peculiar  needs  of  this  period. 

This  possible  lack  of  adaptation  is  strikingly  sug- 
gested by  the  rapid  rate  at  which  pupils  drop  out 


WASTE    IN    THE    HIGH    SCHOOL'       5 

—......        of  high  school.    In  a  study  made 

The  high  school         , 

docs  not  hold  in  New  York  City,  of  one  thou- 

its  pupils  sand    high-school    pupils    it    was 

found  that  one- fourth  of  those  entering  did  not 
stay  longer  than  one  semester;  over  one-third 
stayed  a  year  or  less  and  one-half  did  not  stay  two 
years. (3)  Smaller  cities  would  probably  make  a 
better  showing.  Thus,  in  a  city  of  ten  thousand  in 
Iowa,  in  the  case  of  a  class  entering  in  1908,  about 
one- fourth  dropped  out  by  the  end  of  the  first  year 
and  one-third  stayed  only  two  years  or  less.  In 
this  same  city  twenty-three  successive  classes  were 
studied  with  reference  to  elimination.  A  total  of 
one  thousand  and  forty-two  pupils  in  these  classes 
entered  high  school,  and  of  these  four  hundred 
ninety-one  graduated  and  five  hundred  fifty-one 
dropped  out  before  completing  the  work.  Of  the 
boys  there  were  four  hundred  eighty-three,  of  whom 
fifty-five  per  cent,  dropped  out  without  finishing; 
of  the  girls  there  were  five  hundred  fifty-nine,  of 
whom  nearly  fifty-one  per  cent,  were  eliminated. 

The  following  table  shows  the  percentage  of 
elimination  by  years  in  high  school  of  these  five 
hundred  fifty-one  pupils : 

TABLE  I 

PEBCENTAGES  OF  ELIMINATION  BY  YEARS  OF  551   HIGH- 
SCHOOL  PUPILS 

First  Second  Third  Fourth 

year  year  year  year 

Boys  55               26               14  5 

Girls    49               33               12  6 

Combined   52               29.5             13  5.5 


6  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

The  above  table  shows  that  the  heaviest  loss  oc- 
curs in  the  first  and  second  years  of  the  high-school 
course.  Studies  elsewhere  have  revealed  much  the 
same  condition  of  affairs.  The  suggestion  of  such 
figures  is  obvious.  If  there  is  lack  of  adaptation 
either  on  the  part  of  the  pupil  or  the  school,  it  is 
most  acute  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  course;  eighty- 
one  per  cent,  of  the  boys  and  eighty-two  per  cent, 
of  the  girls  who  left,  did  so  during  these  years. 
For  some  cause  or  other  these  years  presented  pe- 
culiar difficulties  to  the  pupils  in  getting  settled 
down  to  the  work.  The  question  naturally  arises 
as  to  whether  the  mental  and  physical  changes 
characteristic  of  the  teens  might  not  have  been  a 
large  factor  in  preventing  these  pupils  from  find- 
ing themselves  in  the  work  offered  by  the  high 
school.  The  chapters  which  follow  will  possibly 
answer  to  some  extent  this  question. 

In  the  case  of  the  one  thousand  pupils  studied 

in  New  York  City,  it  can  not  be  urged  that  the 

Dulness  of  pupils  heavy  loss  there  noted  was  due 
a  minor  factor  to  tjie  fact  mat  iarge  numbers  of 

those  who  entered  were  mentally  dull.  On  the  con- 
trary there  is  excellent  evidence  to  indicate  that 
the  pupils  who  enter  high  school  are  in  a  large  de- 
gree those  elementary-school  pupils  who  have  been 
more  than  usually  successful  in  their  earlier  work. 
If  the  high  schools  get  the  better  pupils  from  lower 
grades  and  then  fail  to  hold  them,  there  is  ground 


[WASTE    IN    THE    HIGH    SCHOOL       7 

for  suspicion  that  the  work  offered  does  not  make 
a  vital  appeal  to  those  who  enter. 

Since  this  is  the  time  when  educational  forces 
may  exert  their  greatest  influence  in  the  making  of 
Youth  an  educa-  the  individual,  and  since  also  it  is 
tional  opportunity     t]ie     fjnaj     opportunity     of     the 

schools,  we  have  a  right  to  demand  the  finest  pos- 
sible adjustment  of  the  schools  to  the  needs  of  the 
youth. 

It  is  encouraging  indeed  to  note  the  rapid  de- 
velopment in  the  last  two  decades  of  all  kinds  of 
schools,  public  and  private,  technical  and  cultural, 
for  the  adolescent;  it  is  also  encouraging  to  note 
the  largely  increasing  attendance  at  such  schools. 
But  with  all  current  progress  there  are  evidences, 
as  we  have  indicated  above,  of  much  lack  of  nice 
adjustment  to  the  ends  in  view. 

"Between  1900  and  19 10  the  number  of  pupils 
in  public  high  schools  in  the  United  States  increased 
over  seventy-six  per  cent.;  the  teachers  have  in- 
creased in  this  same  period  over  one  hundred  per 
cent.  The  number  and  value  of  high-school  prop- 
erties has  increased  proportionately  during  this 
period,  including  improvement  in  the  quality  and 
quantity  of  facilities  for  work  in  libraries,  labora- 
tories, gymnasia";  but  for  twenty  years  there  has 
been  no  increase  in  the  percentage  of  pupils  who 
are  graduated.  Take  the  country  over,  probably 
much  less  than  half  of  those  who  enter  graduate. 


8  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

In  the  larger  cities  the  number  of  graduates  falls 
as  low  as  ten  or  eleven  per  cent,  of  those  who  enter. 
The  fact  that  so  many  youths  enter  the  public 
high  schools  indicates  that  "some  one  in  control  re- 
gards it  worth  while  for  these  pupils  to  engage 
upon  the  work  of  the  secondary  schools,  though 
they  may  at  the  outset  expect  to  do  but  one  or  a  few 
years  of  the  work.  But  the  fact  that  approximately 
eighty-eight  per  cent.*  do  not  complete  the  course 
indicates  that  most  of  those  who  thought  it  worth 
while  to  enter  the  high  schools,  for  some  or  many 
reasons  do  not  find  it  possible  or  perhaps  worth 
while  to  follow  out  the  course,  even  if  at  the  out- 
set they  intend  doing  so."  (4) 

Be  it  far  from  us  in  this  place  to  criticize  harshly 
our  public  high  schools.  We  wish  rather  to  show 
The  conditions  of  as  clearly  as  may  be  shown  the 
greater  efficiency  directions  in  which  there  is  yet 
room  for  improvement.  With  all  current  progress, 
then,  the  degree  of  efficiency  attained  is  not  so  high 
as  it  should  be.  There  is  much  loss,  much  wasted 
energy,  on  the  part  of  both  the  teachers  and  pupils. 
How  can  a  higher  degree  of  efficiency  be  attained? 
Only  by  a  minute  study  of  the  nature  and  operation 
of  every  factor  involved.  Thus  the  character  and 
amount  of  outside  social  forces  playing  upon  the 
school  should  be  carefully  determined  and,  upon 


*That  is,  approximately  twelve  per  cent,  of  the  enrolment 
of  any  one-year  graduate.  If  there  were  no  elimination  the 
percentage  of  graduation  each  year  should  be  about  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  of  that  year's  enrolment. 


WASTE    IN    THE   HIGH    SCHOOL       9 

the  basis  of  such  determination,  definite  remedies 
should  be  suggested  and  wisely  applied.  Likewise 
the  teaching  and  administrative  processes  of  the 
high  school  should  be  more  carefully  adjusted  with 
reference  to  eliminating  waste  and  increasing  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  the  product.  And  under- 
neath all,  as  the  common  factor  in  every  one  of 
these  problems,  is  the  pupil  himself.  Every  other 
factor  in  the  process  must  be  finally  adjusted  with 
reference  to  the  needs  of  the  pupil,  to  the  sort  of 
physical  and  psychical  being  that  he  is.  How  do 
his  present  characteristics  and  the  period  of 
development  through  which  he  is  passing  need  to 
be  taken  into  account  in  educating  him?  It  seems 
almost  puerile  to  raise  such  questions.  The  com- 
mon-sense answer  would  certainly  be  that  every 
effort  should  be  made  to  adjust  the  machinery  of 
the  schools  with  all  nicety  to  the  pupil's  physical 
and  mental  characteristics;  not  of  course  for  the 
sake  of  humoring  him,  or  making  things  easy  for 
him,  but  because  no  tiling  can  be  done  wisely  except 
on  a  basis  of  exact  knozvlcdge  of  that  with  which 
we  have  to  deal. 

In  the  pages  which  follow  we  shall  turn  for  a 
time  from  the  school  problem  and  center  our  at- 
tention upon  the  youth  himself.  We  shall  try  to 
describe  as  far  as  possible  the  changes,  physical  and 
mental,  which  occur  at  this  time.  In  still  later  sec- 
tions we  shall  consider  possible  adaptations  of  the 
school  to  the  needs  of  boys  and  girls  in  their  teens. 


io  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text : 

( i )  Falkner,  R.  P.,  The  Fundamental  Expression 
of  Retardation,  'The  Psychological  Clinic, 
IV:  213,  1911. 

(2)  Cf.  Strayer,  G.  D.,  Age  and  Grade  Census  of 

Schools  and  Colleges,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation Bulletin,  191 1,  No.  5. 

(3)  Van  Denburg,  J.   K.,  Elimination  of  Pupils 

From  Public  Secondary  Schools,  Nezv  York, 
1911. 

(4)  Caldwell,    O.    W.,    Laboratory   Method   and 

High-School    Efficiency,    Popular    Science 
Monthly,  March,  191 3. 

References  for  further  reading  and  study : 

Book,  W.  R,  Why  Pupils  Drop  Out  of  High 
School,  Pedagogical  Seminary,  1 1 1204. 

Gay,  G.  E.,  Why  Pupils  Leave  High  School,  Edu- 
cation, 22 :30a 


CHAPTER  II 

THE     PHYSICAL     CHANGES     OF     THE     HIGH-SCHOOL 
YEARS 

OUR  study  of  the  high -school  pupil  may  prop- 
erly begin  with  a  brief  account  of  certain 
of  the  physiological  changes  of  the  period  of  youth, 

especially     the     changes     which 
The  fundamental         ,  ,111  r 

character  of  the         cluster  about  the  development  01 

physical  changes  physical  maturity.  Those  changes 
are,  in  many  respects,  the  most  important  of  any 
that  occur  in  the  individual's  progress  from  birth 
to  manhood  and  womanhood.  At  any  rate  they 
stand  out  more  strikingly,  develop  with  greater 
rapidity  and  bear  a  more  definite  relation  to  the 
mental  life  than  do  any  previous  phases  of  bodily 
growth.  The  intellectual,  emotional  and  moral  de- 
velopment of  the  youth  can  be  fully  understood 
only  as  one  recognizes  that  profound  physical 
changes  are  then  rapidly  taking  place,  changes 
which  carry  with  them,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  series 
of  readjustments  in  the  bodily,  as  well  as  in  the 
mental,  organism. 

These  physiological  changes  are  the  more  impor- 
tant for  our  study  because  they  occur  at  the  time 
when  an  increasingly  large  number  of  boys  and 

11 


12  THE   HIGH-SCHOOU   AGE 

girls  are  finishing  their  grammar-school  course,  and 
are  entering  higher  schools  or  else  dropping  out  of 
school  altogether.  It  would  not  be  strange,  indeed, 
if  the  character  of  the  work,  even  to  the  extent  of 
its  success  or  failure,  should  be  very  definitely  as- 
sociated with  these  physiological  transformations 
and  readjustments. 

Let  us  first  of  all  see  what  the  changes  are  as 
over  against  the  phases  of  childhood  development. 

The  growth  ac-  Even  the  most  ordinary  observer 
celerationof  of  children  has  noted  how  most 

the  early  teens  ,  ,     .  ,  «  ,     ,     .      •     , 

boys  and  girls  suddenly  begin  to 

grow  rapidly  somewhere  between  the  ages  of 
twelve  and  fifteen.  A  youngster  in  the  years  pre- 
ceding these  has  grown  so  gradually  as  to  excite 
little  attention  from  those  who  are  with  him  daily. 
He  grows  to  be  sure,  yet  imperceptibly.  But,  al- 
most all  at  once,  it  seems  to  his  parents,  he  begins 
to  shoot  up.  In  spite  of  a  watchful  mother  his 
sleeves  get  too  short  and  an  awkward  length  of 
shank  appears  between  his  shoe-tops  and  the  bottoms 
of  his  knee  trousers.  His  movements  become 
ungainly.  He  stumbles  about  and  has  great  diffi- 
culty in  knowing  what  to  do  with  his  hands  and 
feet.  This  awkwardness  is  less  apparent  in  girls 
than  in  boys,  and  the  girl's  figure  also  rounds  out 
more  quickly  than  does  the  boy's.  All  teachers  of 
mixed  classes  from  twelve  to  fourteen  have  espe- 
cially good  opportunity  to  see  how  the  girls  for  a 
time  forge  ahead  of  the  boys  of  the  same  age  in 


THE    PHYSICAL   CHANGES  13 

height  and  weight.  The  girls  are  clearly  beginning 
to  look  like  young  ladies,  while  the  boys  with  whom 
they  have  thus  far  played  on  scarcely  equal  terms 
now  seem  hopelessly  stranded  in  childhood.  (See 
the  accompanying  illustration.)  This  year  or  more 
of  manifest  physical  superiority  of  the  girl,  with 
its  attendant  development  of  womanly  attitudes 
and  interests,  accounts  in  part  for  the  tendency  of 
many  boys  in  the  early  teens  to  be  averse  to  the  so- 
ciety of  girls.  They  accuse  them  of  being  soft  and 
foolish,  and  they  suspect  the  girls'  whisperings  and 
titterings  of  being  laden  with  unfavorable  com- 
ments regarding  themselves.  It  is  the  beginning 
of  the  break-up  of  the  familiar  easy  comradeship 
of  childhood  and  marks  a  transition  to  a  new  and 
more  profound  interest  in  one  another  which  is 
soon  to  appear. 

The  maturing  of  the  sex  function  is,  of  course, 
central  in  all  these  physical  changes,  and  the  rapid 
increase  in  stature  is  so  nearly  coincident  with  the 
change  of  puberty  that  it  may  ordinarily  be  taken 
as  a  proof  that  that  change  has  taken  place.  In  all 
the  years  from  birth  through  childhood  the  child's 
rate  of  growth  declines,  at  first  very  rapidly  and 
then  more  gradually.  The  increase  in  height  of  the 
normal  child  in  its  first  year  of  life  may  be  as  much 
as  fifty  or  seventy-five  per  cent,  over  what  it  was 
at  birth.  But  the  rate  declines  sharply  year  by 
year  until  the  ninth  for  girls  and  the  eleventh  for 
boys.     At  this  time  of  the  lowest  ebb  in  growth 


H 


THE    HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 


the  annual  increase  may  be  less  than  three  per  cent. 
Then  there  is  a  somewhat  abrupt  upward  turn  in 
the  curve,  especially  of  boys,  which  in  two  or  three 
years  reaches  a  maximum  of  four  or  five  and  even 
six  per  cent,  of  gain  over  the  year  previous. 

When  the  records  made  by  many  children — say 
several  hundred  or  thousand — are  massed  and  aver- 
aged, a  curve  may  be  drawn 
which  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
period  of  accelerated  growth  is 
spread  over  several  years.     It  is  found,  however, 


Individual  rec- 
ords contrasted 
with  mass  records 


&>3 


a.  e 


^ 

^r 

h 

/    / 

-\ 

>- 



•  ' 

~~ 

s 

\ 

-_^ 

d     3L,  2      3     4»,   6 


3      8 


Ages* 


9    10    U    12    13    14    15    16  17  ,18    19    20 

Figure  1. 

CompaTrsoVi  ofthe  growth  curves  of  one  boy^-  »; 

a/id  a  froup  of  Chic?/ro  boys  (after  Smedley);. — -  ■■  ■■» 


THE    PHYSICAL   CHANGES 


15 


A< 

I 

b 

B 
r 

l\ 

V  /'» 

b 

1      : 

^e 

/  ** 

\ 

4 

>^ 

1 

>i 

\ 

\ 

1 

>B 

1 

n    ,, 

>A 

C 

e 
Ages. 


11    12 

Figure  2 


i3      11      15     16      17      18 


AnnCral  increase  in  height  of  two  boys-  (curves  A  and  B), 
eo'mpared  with  the  mass'ctrrve,  C.the  annual  increase 
jj\  heigritof  Boston  boys  (after.  Hactwel  1^. 

when  individual  records  are  examined,  that  the 
period  of  most  rapid  growth  in  the  case  of  a  given 
child  is  much  shorter,  often  not  more  than  a  single 
year,  though  of  course  both  before  and  after  this 
most  rapid  period  the  child  may  be  growing  some- 
what faster  than  he  did  before  the  pubertal  ac- 
celeration began.  The  difference  between  the  mass 
curve  and  the  individual  curve  is  worthy  of  study, 
and  two  sets  of  such  curves  are  here  reproduced 
(Figures  1  and  2)'.  The  important  fact  brought  to 
light  by  comparing  such  curves  is  the  somewhat  wide 
difference  among  individuals  in  the  time  of  their 
coming  to  the  pubertal  change.  Thus,  some  boys  may 
mature  as  early  as  thirteen,  others  at  fourteen  and 
some  as  late  as  sixteen.  While  then,  the  curve  of 
each  individual  is  abrupt  and  short,  if  the  curves 


16  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

of  many  are  put  together,  they  result  in  a  long, 
gradually  rising  and  gradually  declining  line.  It  is, 
moreover,  not  merely  the  brevity  for  the  individual 
of  the  period  of  rapid  growth,  but  the  suddenness 
}  of  its  rise  and  decline  that  is  emphasized  by  these 
records.  All  in  all,  they  vividly  suggest  that  the 
child  is  being  put  to  a  severe  test  to  accomplish  his 
transition  to  physical  maturity.  This  is  a  period, 
therefore,  which  demands  a  good  reserve  fund  of 
general  vitality  that  it  may  be  successfully  and 
easily  passed  over. 

It  should  be  noted  also  that  it  is  not  merely  in 
these  pubertal  years  that  girls  are  slightly  in  ad- 
Girls  slightly  in  vance  of  boys  in  their  develop- 
advanceofboys  ment  As  early  as  the  third  or 
fourth  year  of  life,  if  not  earlier,  girls  are  from  a 
year  to  a  year  and  a  half  ahead  of  boys  of  the  same 
age  in  every  phase  of  growth.  This  has  been  noted, 
for  instance,  in  the  hardening  of  the  bones  of  the 
skull  and  in  the  appearance  of  the  second  and  per- 
manent set  of  teeth.  It  is  doubtless  true  of  other 
phases  less  easily  measured. 

The  acceleration  in  stature  referred  to  above  is 
only  one  of  many  accelerations  of  this  period. 
Other  growth  Puberty  is,  in  fact,  accompanied 

phases  by  rapid  increases  in  almost  every 

other  aspect  of  bodily  development.  The  heart 
maintains  about  the  same  ratio  to  the  rest  of  the 
body  that  has  existed  in  childhood.  The  arterial 
system  grows  "less  relatively  than  the  heart,"  so 


THE    PHYSICAL    CHANGES 


17 


that  at  adolescence  the  blood  pressure  is  greatly  in- 
creased. The  muscles  develop  faster  than  any 
other  part  of  the  body,  resulting  in  a  marked  in- 
crease in  weight.   Figure  3  B  presents  this  accelera- 


o^Ages. 


9       10       11       12       13      li      15       16 

Figure  3.  After  Smedley. 

tion  in  weight  graphically.     While  rapid  increase  in 
weight  begins  at  the  time  of  the  more  rapid  growth 


i8 


THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 


in  stature,  it  is  not  at  first  so  manifest.  The  curve, 
however,  rises  higher  and  stays  up  longer.  Puberty 
with  girls  is  generally  accompanied  by  an  increased 
girth  of  chest  and  hips,  and  before  the  teens  have 
passed  both  boys  and  girls,  if  in  ordinary  health, 
attain  a  well  rounded  muscular  development  that 


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32    10 


80 


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Ages. 


9        10       11        12       13      14       15       1U      17       18 

figure  4.  After  Smediev. 


THE   PHYSICAL   CHANGES  19 

gives  them  very  nearly  their  normal  weight  as 
adults. 

At  this  same  time,  also,  occurs  an  increase  of 
lung  capacity,  more  striking  in  the  case  of  boys 
than  of  girls  (Figure  4),  but  clearly  evident  in 
both  sexes.  Muscular  strength  as  measured  by  the 
grip  of  the  hand,  the  lifting  power  of  the  arms  or 
of  the  back  also  increases  rapidly  at  the  same  time 
(Figure  3  A).  Some  investigators  contend  that  the 
organs  of  sense  also  "undergo  characteristic  alter- 
ations," but  of  this  much  less  is  known  with  cer- 
tainty. (1) 

The  gross  and  easily  measured  changes  referred 
to  above  point  to  an  intensification  of  all  growth 
G  lint  n  i  processes  at  this  period  of  trans- 
fication  of  all  ition  to  physical  maturity.     It  is, 

in  a  sense,  the  flood  tide  of  de- 
velopment. Vital  forces  acquire  a  momentum  that 
they  have  not  possessed  before,  and  which  to  some 
extent  subsides  later,  never  to  be  regained.  The 
life  intensity  can  be  measured  at  different  ages  by 
the  ratio  of  those  living  to  those  dying  at  each  age. 
If  the  ratio  of  the  living  to  those  who  die  is  high 
at  a  given  age  it  indicates  a  great  or  a  high  vitality 
for  that  age.  Doctor  Hartwell's  study  of  the  phys- 
ical development  of  Boston  school  children  shows  the 
lowest  death  rate  for  girls  at  the  age  of  twelve  and 
for  boys  at  thirteen.  At  earlier  ages,  for  example 
at  eight,  one  child  in  one  hundred  sixty  died.  At 
seventeen  the  ratio  was  about  the  same,  but  at  the 


20 


THE   HIGH-SCHOOL1   AGE 


period  just  preceding  the  accelerated  bodily  devel- 
opment of  puberty  the  ratio  of  the  living  was  three 
hundred  to  one  (Figure  5).  (2)' 


.320 
'300 


$'280 
!«  260 

ni  '240 

fctf) 

•  |^220 
■a 

o3  200 

X! 

1  180 

c 

2  160 

bfl 

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"o  120 
O 
'^100 


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, 

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Jul 

1 

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> 

ji 

i 

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II 

fl 

Jl 

\      Wi    W*    9/2  11^  ny»  uyx  nyt 

Ages.  r.         c 

B  Figure  5. 

Specific  life  intensities  of  each  age/front 
Hartweil's  study  of  Boston  school  children*. 

All  this  intensification  of  bodily  growth  processes 
and  of  the  power  to  resist  death  is  but  the  outward 
Sex  maturity  the  expression  of  the  deeper  lying 
fundamental  factor  change  to  physiological  or  sexual 
maturity.     This  latter  is  the  cause  underlying  all 


THE    PHYSICAL    CHANGES  21 

other  changes.  If  for  any  reason  it  is  deferred 
these  other  increases  are  also  deferred.  When  sex- 
ual maturity  comes,  they  come  with  it. 

As  was  suggested  on  a  preceding  page,  there  is 
some  difference  among  children  as  to  the  age  of 

coming  to  physiological  maturity. 
The  time,  variable       .  .  .  .  ,, 

As  every  one  knows,  girls,  on  the 

whole,  mature  from  a  year  and  a  half  to  two  years 
earlier  than  boys.  Climate  and  race  are  influences 
which  hasten  or  retard  the  process  for  both  sexes. 
In  the  warmer  climates  maturity  comes  earlier, 
especially  with  the  dark-skinned  races.  Among  the 
races  of  the  temperate  zone  the  Scandinavians  de- 
velop somewhat  later  than  others;  the  Hebrews 
somewhat  earlier. 

Economic  and  social  status  likewise  exerts  a 
definite  influence  upon  the  time  of  puberty.  Poor 
Influence  of  eco-  food,  lack  of  fresh  air,  insuffi- 
nomic  conditions  cjent  clothing,  hard  work  and  bad 
hygienic  conditions,  all  probably  retard  develop- 
ment, while  the  opposite  conditions  associated  with 
a  more  comfortable,  healthful  life  hasten  the  change. 
The  average  age  for  this  climate  is  regarded  as 
most  properly  twelve  to  thirteen  for  girls  and 
thirteen  and  a  half  to  fourteen  and  a  half  for 
boys.  But  in  every  large  group  of  children  there 
will  be  found  many  who  vary  above  and  below  these 
averages  from  one  to  two  years. 

The  accompanying  table  shows  the  estimated  de- 


22 


THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 


gree  of  maturity  of  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  gram- 
mar school  of  a  small  city  in  Iowa: 


TABLE  II 

137 

Boys 

i35 

Girls 

Ages 

1 

2 

3 

Ages 

1 

2 

3 

ioi 

6 

ioi 

4 

1 

ii 

4 

1 1 

3 

2 

II* 

12 

1 

Hi 

5 

3 

12 

8 

2 

12 

8 

3 

12* 

13 

3 

12* 

5 

12 

2 

13 

7 

9 

13 

4 

12 

4 

13* 

9 

19 

1 

13-fr 

2 

11 

8 

14 

3 

12 

1 

14 

8 

1 1 

I4i 

2 

6 

7 

14^ 

5 

9 

15 

2 

3 

15 

4 

3 

15* 

1 

I 

i5i 

1 

1 

16 

I 

2 

16 

4 

1 6£-i7 

2 

i6i-i7 

Totals, 

65 

56 

16 

Totals, 

31 

62 

42 

The  columns  numbered  1,  2  and  3  refer  to  the 
immature,  the  maturing  and  the  matured  groups 
respectively. 

The  ages  range  from  io>4  to  17.  It  will  be  read- 
ily seen  by  inspecting  the  table  that  the  most  com- 
mon age  of  estimated  pubescence  in  this  group  of 
boys  is  13^  to  14  and  in  the  case  of  the  girls  from 
I2y2  to  is,  but  for  both  sexes  there  are  cases  of 


THE    PHYSICAL   CHANGES  23 

maturing  on  each  side  of  this  middle  point,  i.  e., 
earlier  and  later,  of  one  to  two  years.  The  con- 
dition shown  by  this  table  may  be  taken  as  typical 
of  American  children  in  this  latitude.  It  is  fairly 
well  established  that  children  tend  to  vary  more  in 
the  changes  of  pubescence  than  in  any  other  growth 
period,  and  that  the  variation  is  about  as  illustrated 
in  this  table. 

In  any  given  community  there  are,  of  course, 
many  different  causes  which  operate  differently  on 
Influence  of  different  children  to  produce  this 

environment  variation.      Race    is    one    factor, 

and  immediate  ancestry,  or  family  heredity,  is 
another.  But  more  important  than  these  is  prob- 
ably the  group  of  environmental  influences  which 
have  played  upon  the  child  through  the  years  of 
infancy  and  later  childhood.  Ill  health  and  un- 
favorable hygienic  conditions  are  regarded  by  most 
students  as  tending  to  retard  pubescence.  Boas, 
one  of  our  greatest  authorities  on  the  growth  of 
children,  says:  "It  has  been  shown  particularly 
that  better  economic  conditions  bring  about  a  more 
rapid  and  also  a  greater  development  of  the  body 
than  occurs  under  less  favorable  conditions.  Among 
the  poor,  the  period  of  diminishing  growth  which 
precedes  adolescence  is  lengthened  and  the  acceler- 
ation of  adolescence  sets  in  later.  The  whole  pe- 
riod of  growth  is  lengthened ;  but  the  total  amount 
of  growth  during  this  longer  period  is  less  than 
the  amount  of  growth  attained  during  the  shorter 


24  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

• 
period  of  growth  of  the  well-to-do.    Therefore,  we 

find  throughout  that  a  young  child  which  grows 
slowly  will  continue  to  grow  slowly  until  the  period 
of  adolescence  sets  in.  Afterward,  the  child  that 
has  grown  slowly  during  the  early  years  of  child- 
hood will  grow  rapidly."  (3)  After  referring  to 
climate  and  nutrition  as  possible  causes  of  deferred 
pubescence,  Boas  continues,  "It  seems  plausible  that 
in  the  bulk  of  our  population  the  better  develop- 
ment of  man  in  modern  times  is  due  less  to  better 
nutrition  than  to  the  fact  that  hygienic  con- 
ditions of  childhood  have  improved It 

seems  plausible  that,  with  the  diminution  of  the 
number  of  diseases  that  attack  the  individual,  and 
the  consequent  elimination  of  their  retarding  in- 
fluences, growth  suffers  less  interruption,  and  that 
the  final  bulk  of  the  body  is  increased.  The  differ- 
ences between  social  classes  are  great 

The  whole  group  of  the  poor  are,  at  any  given  time, 
physiologically  younger  than  the  well-to-do."  (3) 

These  facts  and  suppositions  suggest  the  view, 
held  by  many,  that  a  moderately  early  development 
Early  and  late  pu-  of  puberty  is  much  more  to  be 
bescence  compared  desired  for  the  child  than  a  de- 
ferred or  late  development.  It  is  likely,  also,  that 
an  extremely  early  development  is  abnormal  and 
unfortunate,  but  there  are  no  definite  studies  on  this 
point.  However  that  may  be,  if  the  child  comes 
to  maturity  at  the  usual  or  normal  time  it  is  thought 
that  he  will  make  the  change  better  than  if  he  ma- 


THE    PHYSICAL    CHANGES  25 

tures  after  the  usual  time.  For  one  thing,  the 
general  acceleration  in  his  growth  will  be  spread 
over  a  longer  period.  He  will  not  be  apt  to  grow 
so  rapidly  at  any  one  time,  but  he  will  continue  at 
it  longer  and  will  probably  reach  a  more  satisfactory 
physical  development  than  if  his  pubescence  were 
late.  The  earlier  and  more  prolonged  ripening  of 
the  body  does  not,  therefore,  put  such  a  heavy  strain 
on  the  child's  vital  forces  as  does  a  later  ripening. 
The  strain,  if  there  is  one,  is  spread  out  and  more 
easily  met.  Physicians  tell  us  that  girls  especially, 
who  pass  the  period  with  difficulty  are  those  who 
have  not  accumulated  sufficient  reserve  force  in  the 
years  of  childhood  or  who,  at  the  time  of  puberty, 
dissipate  their  strength  in  unhygienic  living.  Al- 
though it  is  a  critical  time,  it  is  not  nature's  plan 
that  it  should  be  accompanied  by  unusual  weakness 
or  by  serious  breaks  in  health. 

It  is,  as  we  have  pointed  out,  a  time  when  the  vital 
forces  are  intense.  But  the  overflowing  energy  is 
111  health  a^  needed  for  the  accomplishment 

not  normal  of   these   final   physical   changes, 

for  the  maturing  of  the  sex  functions,  and  for  the 
rapid  growth  of  bones  and  muscles.  If,  however, 
it  is  diverted  from  these  natural  channels,  as  it  may 
be  so  easily,  by  an  excess  of  physical  work  or,  as 
is  more  likely  to-day,  by  excessive  social  interests, 
parties,  clubs,  etc.,  with  their  attendant  interference 
with  regular  habits  of  rest  and  sleep,  the  child  is 
almost  sure  to  suffer  for  it. 


26  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL'   AGE 

Both  parents  and  teachers  are  liable  to  be  misled 
by  the  exuberance  of  the  child's  enthusiasms.  He 
But  it  may  frequently  gives  the  impression  of 

easily  develop  being  able  to  stand  anything.    He 

can  endure  a  great  deal,  but  since  the  demands  of 
his  body  upon  his  energy  have  never  been 
greater  than  now,  an  excess  of  energy  devoted 
to  other  things  than  growth  will  naturally 
hamper  the  physical  development  and  a  serious 
break  in  health  will  often  follow.  In  fact,  so 
many  observers  of  school  children  in  this  period 
have  noted  an  increased  tendency  to  ill  health,  espe- 
cially in  girls,  that  it  is  popularly  regarded  as  a 
weak  age.  Thus,  Doctor  Cornell,  a  school  physi- 
cian of  Philadelphia,  says,  "Many  animals  pass 
through  a  period  of  lessened  resistance  fraught  with 
danger  of  disease  and  injury.  The  soft-shelled  crab 
and  the  moulting  bird  are  examples.  At  these  times 
shelter  rather  than  exposure  should  be  sought,  but 
the  civilized  human  introduces  his  adolescent  young 
into  the  high  schools,  and  the  factory,  endeavoring 
to  break  down  the  already  weakened  vital  resistance, 
and  to  overstimulate  the  nervous  system  at  the 
period  of  its  greatest  irritability."  (4) 

Just  how  far  the  years  from  twelve  to  fourteen 
are  actually  years  of  "weakened  vital  resistance/' 
Overstimu-  as    Doctor    Cornell   expresses   it, 

lationeasy  needs  to  be  much  more  carefully 

investigated.  That  they  are  years  when  both  boys 
and  girls  need  special  care  and  protection  is  probably 


THE    PHYSICAL   CHANGES 


-/ 


true,  as  we  have  already  stated  above.  They  are 
also  doubtless  years  especially  susceptible  to  over- 
stimulation, and  nervous  irritation.  There  are, 
however,  eminent  authorities  who  believe  that  all 
would  go  well  if  the  vital  forces  were  only  conserved 
for  growth  and  not  dissipated  in  an  excess  of  social 
and  economic  activities  or  by  unhygienic  modes  of 
life.  Doctor  Leo  Burgerstein,  of  Vienna,  who  has 
made  careful  observations  upon  the  health  of  both 
sexes  in  early  adolescence,  says,  "It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  the  time  of  that  change  is  not  only  accom- 
panied by  physical  troubles  but  also  by  a  psychical 
depression  and  retarded  interest  and  fitness  for  men- 
tal work,  and  these  facts  must  strike  us  all  the  more 
because  well  developed,  healthy  girls,  under  favor- 
able circumstances  pass  through  that  process  of  de- 
velopment which  is  a  physiological  one,  without 
difficulty,  whereas  the  above  named  troubles  will 
arise  under  unfavorable  conditions  with  girls  who 
are  not  completely  healthy,"  whose  ill  health  can, 
as  Doctor  Burgerstein  goes  on  to  point  out,  often 
be  traced  to  "injurious  influences  of  school  life,  such 
as  continual  sitting  in  bad  conditions  as  to  air  and 
light,  together  with  difficult  and  trying  home 
work."  (5) 

We  stated  on  a  preceding  page  that  an  early  and 
more  prolonged  period  of  maturing  is  regarded  as 
better  than  one  deferred  until  the  middle  teens  or 
even  later.  It  was  there  noted  that  late  maturing 
boys  and  girls  undergo  a  sharper  period  of  rapid 


28  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

growth  but  that  they  seldom  make  up  completely 
what  they  have  lost,  the  time  being  too  short  for 
them  to  catch  up  completely  with  the  more  favored 
children  who  matured  earlier  and  at  a  more  leisurely 
rate. 

Every  teacher  can  think  of  instances  of  boys  and 
girls  who  remained  "little"  long  past  the  time  when 
Teachers  may  ob-  their  schoolmates  of  the  same  age 
serve  these  things  had  "made  their  growth."  Fi- 
nally the  spurt  upward  with  these  children  would 
come,  but  it  seldom  would  last  long  enough  to  bring 
them  up  with  the  rest.  These  cases  need  different 
care  from  those  who  are  in  the  same  transitional 
stage  but  younger.  The  latter  should  be  passing 
through  the  stage  slowly  and  easily  while  the  be- 
lated child  will  probably  be  developing  rapidly  and 
suffering  a  much  heavier  drain  upon  his  all  too 
limited  physical  capital. 

So  much  for  the  phases  of  physical  growth.  These 

form  for  us,  in  this  study,  the  background  of  the 

important  psychic  changes  and  re- 
Relation  of  the  , .  .     ,  ,  T 
physical changes      adjustments  of  adolescence.    Just 

to  psychical  as  the  physical  growth,  so  easily 

development  ,  \  \     ,      fe  , 

observed,  is  but  the  outer  mani- 
festation of  the  child's  attainment  of  physiological 
or  sex  maturity,  so  the  psychic  changes  center  about 
the  definite  development  of  the  sex  instinct,  which 
is,  in  one  form  or  another,  the  common  element  and 
the  central  driving  power  in  the  development  of  the 
psychic  life.  We  should  not,  of  course,  make  the  mis- 


THE    PHYSICAL    CHANGES  29 

take  of  assuming  that  children  of  earlier  years  have 
no  interest  in  problems  relating  to  sex.  It  has  been 
shown  by  careful  studies  that  even  very  little  chil- 
dren have  such  interests,  that  they  are,  in  fact,  far 
more  sensitive  to  such  matters  than  most  parents 
and  teachers  suppose.  But  these  early  phases  do 
not  concern  us  here.  Their  proper  recognition  and 
wise  treatment  are  important  phases  of  child  wel- 
fare that  require  an  altogether  separate  discussion 
from  that  in  which  we  are  here  engaged.  It  is  not 
until  the  approach  of  puberty  that  these  early  in- 
terests begin  to  take  shape  in  the  definite  reproduc- 
tive instinct  with  all  its  associated  instincts  and 
interests. 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text : 

(1)  Hall  and  Tanner,  Article  on  Adolescence,  in 

A  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  New  York,  191 1. 

(2)  Hartwell's  study  is  referred  to  in  Burk's  The 

Growth  of  Children  in  Height  and  Weight, 
American  Journal  of  Psychology,  IX  1255. 
(3)"  Boas,  F.,  Growth,  article  in  A  Cyclopedia  of 
Education. 

(4)  Cornell,  W.,  Health  and  Medical  Inspection  of 

School  Children,  Philadelphia,  191 2. 

(5)  Burgerstein,   Leo,   Coeducation  and  Hygiene. 

Pedagogical  Seminary,  XVIII  :i,  1910. 

References  for  further  reading  and  study: 

Boas,  F.,  Grozvth  of  Children,  Science,  Dec.   13, 

1912,  p.  815. 
Hall,  G.   S.,  Adolescence,   1,  Chap.   1,  Growth  m 

Height  and  Weight. 


3o  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

Smedley,  F.  W.,  Report  of  the  Department  of  Child 
Study  and  Pedagogic  Investigation,  Chicago 
Public  Schools,  1899- 1900. 

Tyler,  J.  N.,  The  Boy  and  the  Girl  in  High  School, 
Chapter  XIII,  Growth  and  Education. 


CHAPTER  III 

PHYSICAL   DEVELOPMENT   AND    SCHOOL   EFFICIENCY 

IN  our  study  of  the  high-school  age  we  have  thus 
far  confined  our  attention  to  certain  of  the  im- 
portant phases  of  growth  in  early  adolescence.  It 
Summary  of  pre-  was  noted  that  the  development 
ceding  discussion  0f  physiological  maturity  at  the 
time  of  puberty  is  the  central  fact  about  which  all 
other  changes  are  grouped  and  in  terms  of  which 
they  must  be  explained.  The  reader  should  not 
forget  the  two  main  points  emphasized  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter :  namely,  that  the  period  of  puberty 
is  a  time  of  general, quickening  and  intensifies tionT)f 
all  phases  of  bodily  development,  illustrated  in  the 
rapid  increase  in  height,  weight,  lung  capacity,  mus- 
cular strength  and  resistance  to  fatal  diseases;  and, 
in  the  second^place,  that  there  is  a  difference  be- 
tween  an  early,, orjiormal,  maturity  of  the  body  and 
a  late  development,  the  former  being  associated  with 
better  economic  conditions  and  superior  health, 
especially  in  later  childhood.  It  was  pointed  out 
that  children  who  mature  at  the  usual  time  make 

3i 


32  THE   HIGH-SCHOOU   AGE 

the  transition  more  slowly  and  more  easily  than 
do  those  whose  maturity  is  deferred,  say,  until  past 
the  middle  of  the  teens. 

Those  two  points  have  important  bearings  on  the 

mental  development  of  the  young  adolescent  and 

are  vitally  related  to  his  success 

5og£ainmatPiInty"     or  failure  in  his  school  work.    A 

to  mental  de-  few    careful    studies    have    been 

velopment  .       ,       ,  ,      . 

made  of  school  progress  during 
""these  years,  and  they  all  suggest  that  there  is  a 
definite  connection  between  the  transition  period 
of  puberty  and  the  development  of  physical  ma- 
turity, on  the  one  hand,  and  school  efficiency,  as 
measured  both  by  the  quality  of  work  and  the  rate 
_of  progress  through  the  grades. 

Puberty  is,  therefore,  a  critical  period  in  the  life 
of  every  boy  and  girl.  Yet  how  many  teachers 
have  more  than  hazy  ideas  of  its  importance  ?  Only 
here  and  there  do  we  find  a  discerning  man  or 
woman  who  gives  it  any  consideration  in  the  han- 
dling of  pupils  in  the  upper  grammar  and  lower 
high-school  grades. 

If  the  school  work  of  most  boys  and  girls  con- 
tinued smoothly  and  without  interruption  in  these 
A  period  of  years   of   physiological   transfor- 

heavy  elimination  mation,  the  teacher  might  well 
ignore  the  change,  but  such  is  not 
the  case.  We  have  already  pointed  out  that  it  is 
the  weak  point  in  our  school  system.  While  a 
goodly  and   increasing  number  of  children  enter 


SCHOOL    EFFICIENCY  33 

the  high  schools  every  year,  far  too  many  of  them 
stay  for  only  brief  periods. 

The  loss  varies  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
and  in  differently  sized  cities  and  schools,  but  in 
all  cases  it  is  sufficiently  large  to  command  the 
serious  attention  of  the  supporters  of  the  public 
schools.  It  has  been  estimated  that  one-third  of  all 
boys  who  enter  the  high  schools  of  New  York  City 
drop  out  at  some  time  during  their  first  half-year, 
and  probably  not  one  in  nine  of  all  the  boys  and 
girls  who  enter  those  high  schools  graduate  on  time. 
As  we  have  already  stated,  the  loss  in  the  smaller 
high  schools,  at  least  in  the  Middle  West,  is  not  so 
great  as  in  the  large  cities  East  and  West  but  it 
is  large  enough  even  in  these  smaller  schools  to 
make  us  all  stop  and  think. 

The  conditions  which  determine  how  long  a  boy 
will  stay  in  school  are  many.     Some  of  them  he 
.Many  conditions      appreciates    and    others   he    does 
influence  school        not.     It  is  quite  possible  that  his 
attendance  course     may     be     more     largely 

shaped  by  influences  of  which  he  is  only  dimly 
conscious  than  by  those  which  he  apprehends  clearly. 
Hence,  the  reasons  he  himself  may  give  for  leav- 
ing school,  may  be  only  transient  and  superficial 
reasons,  excuses  as  it  were,  for  a  course  of  action 
he  has  determined  upon  but  the  "why"  of  which 
he  can  not  clearly  state. 

Among  the  causes  determining  his   success  or 
failure  in  school  and  his  consequent  desire  to  stay 


34  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

_  .  ...  in  or  drop  out,  the  mental  and 
Growth  conditions  .    ,     ;  _ 

physical   changes  of   these  years 

must  surely  play  some  part.     They  will,  however, 

have  to  be  included  among  those  influences  of  which 

the  boy  himself  is  quite  unaware. 

School   failure  on  the  part  of  so  many  young 

adolescents  certainly  suggests  a  lack  of  adjustment 

_ somewhere.      The    school    itself 

Social  conditions  ,  ...  ... 

may  be  at  fault  in  maintaining 

improper  standards  of  success,  or  in  offering  to  the 
boys  and  girls  studies  ill-suited  to  their  real  needs. 
The  elementary  schools  also  may  be  at  fault  in 
not  training  the  children  sufficiently  in  habits  of 
application  and  in  keen  enough  interests  in  mat- 
ters intellectual.  The  home  and  society  generally 
may  also  be  responsible  for  pennitting  the  young- 
ster to  lead  the  sort  of  life  he  does,  so  that  he 
may  come  up  to  the  high  school  with  lack  of  "nerve" 
or  lack  of  that  grit  which  makes  him  willing  to 
work  hard.  He  may  see  the  world  in  a  wrong 
perspective  and  consequently  misapprehend  what 
that  world  is  going  to  require  of  him  when  he  grows 
up.  He  may  lack  wholesome  ideals  and  a  sufficiently 
clear  conception  of  his  own  personal  responsibility 
for  a  successful  life. 

Doubtless    all    the    above    influences    contribute 
something  toward  shaping  the  attitude  of  the  boy 

Increased  effi-  who  miSht  continue  in  school  but 

ciency  from  bet-  who  actually  does  drop  out.  Let 
ter  adjustment  ug   recognize    that   there   may   ^ 


SCHOOL   EFFICIENCY  35 

the  very  best  of  stuff  in  the  youngster  and  that 
dropping  out  may  be  the  most  suitable  thing  for 
him  to  do  under  the  circumstances.  ,This  much 
may  be  true,  as  things  stand  at  present,  but  we 
should  insist  that  a  better  adjustment  of  forces 
somewhere,  or  everywhere,  along  the  line  might 
result  in  his  remaining  longer  in  school  and  in  his 
being  better  trained  for  an  efficient  manhood.  One 
thing  is  certain,  American  schools  have  been  insti- 
tuted to  train  American  youths.  In  proportion  as 
these  youths  do  not  go  to  the  schools  provided, 
they  are  not  getting  the  training  they  are  supposed 
to  need.  Among  the  various  readjustments  and 
finer  adaptations  required  by  such  a  situation,  there 
is  certainly  need  for  a  finer  adaptation  to  the  phys- 
ical and  mental  characteristics  which  the  boys  and 
girls  inevitably  bring  with  them  into  the  higher 
schools.  If  some  of  them  are  inclined  to  drop 
out  of  school  after  a  few  months'  trial  of  its 
work,  it  will  do  little  good  to  try  to  comfort  our- 
selves with  the  thought  that  their  decision  is  un- 
wise or  short-sighted;  that  they  have  not  remained 
long  enough  really  to  appreciate  what  an  advantage 
it  may  be  to  them  to  spend  a  few  more  years  in 
systematic  study.  The  hard  cold  fact  remains  that 
many  of  these  children  do  not  remain  when  they 
might  just  as  well  do  so,  and  it  is  our  business, 
therefore,  to  see  what  we  can  do  in  readjusting 
our  machinery  so  as  to  keep  them  in  training  a 
little  longer. 


36  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

The  first  and  possibly  the  simplest  question  sug- 
gested by  the  facts  of  the  preceding  chapter,  a 
Physiological  age  question  which  should  be  capable 
and  elimination  0f  a  rather  definite  answer,  is 
that  of  whether  this  tendency  to  drop  out  of  school 
in  the  upper  grammar  and  lower  high-school  grades 
is  in  any  way  related  to  physiological  age  or  de- 
gree of  physiological  maturity.  Thus  far  we  do 
not  know,  in  the  case  of  large  groups  of  boys  in 
the  early  teens,  whether  the  leaving  of  school  is 
any  more  frequent  with  the  mature  than  with  the 
immature ;  whether  the  transition  stage  of  puberty 
itself  tends  to  make  the  youngster  dissatisfied  with 
the  school  routine  and  its  studies,  and  unduly  anx- 
ious to  try  himself  out  in  the  world. 

It  would  be  comparatively 'easy  for  a  superin- 
tendent of  a  fair-sized  city  school  system  to  find 
out,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  if  there  is  any 
such  relationship,  and  whatever  might  be  thus  de- 
termined would  be  not  only  of  much  scientific  inter- 
est but  of  great  practical  importance  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  schools. 

It  has,  indeed/been  shown  by  a  few  investigators 
tfiat  those  children  who  are  retarded  or  late  in  their 
The  advantage  attainment  of  physical  maturity 
of  maturity  are  ordinarily  also  retarded  men- 

tally and  that  advancement  -in  the  school  grafles 
is  related  to  progress  on  the  physical  side.  The 
mature  pupil  with  his  greater  height,  weight  and 
muscular  strength  is  superior  mentally  as  well  as 


SCHOOL    EFFICIENCY  37 

physically  to  his  immature  classmates.  There  are, 
of  course,  exceptions  to  this  general  tendency.  The 
observing  teacher  will  readily  recall  large  boys, 
who  have  been  in  his  classes,  whose  work  has" 
been  inferior  to  younger,  less  fully  developed  boys. 
Some  of  these  cases  are  real  exceptions  to  the  tend- 
ency suggested  above,  others  are  probably  only 
apparent  exceptions. 

It  is  well  to  remember,  as  we  said  before,  that 
there  are  many  separate  influences  playing  upon  a 
child  of  any  age  which  react  on  his  school  efficiency. 
His  degree  of  physical  development,  though  impor- 
tant, is  only  one  of  many  factors  that  determine 
how  he  will  behave  or  what  he  will  accomplish. 
Some  of  the  disturbing  circumstances  which  inter- 
fere with  the  normal  progress  of  the  young  ado- 
lescent in  his  school  work  we  shall  consider  pres- 
ently. For  the  moment  we  may  confine  ourselves 
to  the  influence  of  growth  itself,  as  far  as  inquiries 
into  the  subject  throw  any  light  on  the  problem. 

While  there  are  no  extended  studies  as  to  this 
connection  of  maturity  with  school  attendance, 
What  investiga-  there  are  many  indications  that 
tions  reveal  such  a  relationship  does  exist  and 

that  it  has  an  important  influence  on  school  suc- 
cess. For  instance,  in  most  schools,  large  or  rapidly 
growing  boys  and  girls  are  usually  found  in  the 
same  classes  with  those  who  are  quite  immature, 
that  is,  with  boys  and  girls  who  are  yet  "little 
children." 


38  THE   HIGH-SCHOOU   AGE 

Thus,  in  a  grammar  school  known  to  the  writer, 
a  seventh  grade  class  contains  eighteen  little  boys, 
fifteen  pubescent  and  four  who  are  mature.  The 
physically  mature  children,  especially  the  boys,  are 
very  apt  to  feel  awkward  and  out  of  place  under 
these  conditions.  They  do  not  have  much  in  com- 
mon with  those  who  are  less  well  developed  than 
themselves,  even  though  they  may  be  of  the  same 
age  in  years. 

With  the  above  fact  in  mind,  an  experiment  was 
recently  made  in  a  New  York  City  boys'  high 
A  New  York  school.      The   object  was  to  see 

experiment  whether  boys  of  the  same  degree 

of  development  did  any  better  work  when  grouped 
together  than  when  mixed  with  younger  and  older 
boys.  The  entering  class  was  divided  into  sections 
according  to  the  degree  of  maturity  of  its  mem- 
bers. Two  hundred  ninety-five  boys  were  thus 
divided  into  several  sections  according  to  their 
degree  of  physiological  development.  At  the 
end  of  six  months  it  was  found  that  about 
twenty  per  cent,  of  all  these  boys  had  left 
school  and  twenty  per  cent,  more  had  failed  in  one 
or  more  of  their  studies  while  sixty  per  cent,  were 
ready  for  promotion.  These  discharges,  failures 
and  promotions  were  scattered  unevenly  and  in  no 
apparent  order  through  all  ages  from  fourteen  to 
seventeen,  and  through  all  the  various  degrees  of 
maturity.  These  percentages  of  failure  seem  high 
when  taken  by  themselves,  but  fortunately  we  are 


SCHOOL   EFFICIENCY  39 

able  to  compare  them  with  the  record  of  another 
group  of  one  hundred  forty-nine  boys  of  the  same 
degrees  of  maturity,  who  entered  the  same  high 
school  at  the  same  time,  a  group  who  were  prob- 
ably not  in  any  respect   different  in  ability   from 
the     first     group     of     two     hundred     ninety-five. 
The  members  of  this  second  group  were  divided 
into  sections,  not  according  to  physiological  age, 
but    according    to    the    elementary    schools    from 
which   the   different   boys   came.      Of   this  group, 
thirty-one   per  cent,   dropped  out  before   the  end 
of    six    months,    seventeen    per    cent,    failed    and 
fifty-two  per  cent,   were   promoted.     The   record 
of    a    previous   class    of    three    hundred    eighteen 
boys,     in     which     there     was     also     no     attempt 
to  classify  according  to  maturity,  was  also  exam- 
ined, and  in  this  class  it  was  found  that  there  had 
been  a  loss,   in  six  months,   of  twenty-seven  per 
cent.,  failures  seventeen  per  cent,  and  promotions 
fifty-six  per  cent.     As  Doctor  Foster,  who  made 
i  he  study,  says,  "The  group  of  boys  classified  ac- 
cording to  physiological  age  had  a  higher  percentage 
of  promotions  and  a  very  much  lower  percentage 
of  discharges.    The  failures  in  the  two  groups  were 
about  the  same,"  at  least  they  were  so  nearly  alike 
that  no  conclusions,  one  way  or  the  other,  could 
be   drawn    from   them.      "The   marked   difference 
seems   to  be   in  the  matter  of   discharges.     May 
this  difference  not  be  due  to  the  grouping  of  the 
boys  of  the  same  development  making  the  work 


40  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

so  much  more  enjoyable  that  they  did  not  have  the 
same  inclination  to  leave  school ?"(0  Here  is 
surely  a  point  that  every  serious  teacher  must  con- 
sider. Putting  together  children  of  the  same  physi- 
ological age  is  apparently  a  factor  in  keeping  them 
in  school. 

In  the   investigation   just   described   it   will   be 

noted,  however,  that  the  mature  boys  did  not  seem 

to  do  their  school  work  any  bet- 

ingcteldrSiol  "       ter  tnan  tne  *ess  developed  ones. 

different  degrees  Possible  causes  of  this  we  shall 
of  maturity  . ,      ,  ,_,         .        . , 

consider  later.    There  is  evidence, 

nevertheless,  that  maturity  does  have  a  favorable 
effect  on  scholarship.  In  certain  schools  it  has  been 
found,  for  instance,  that  a  considerably  higher  per- 
centage of  boys  who  have  passed  the  pubescent 
stage  at  thirteen,  at  fourteen  and  at  fifteen  years 
are  promoted  in  their  work  than  of  those  boys  of 
these  ages  who  have  not  yet  matured.  Of  first  year 
high-school  boys  observed  by  Doctor  Crampton  in 
New  York  City,  eighteen  per  cent,  of  the  mature 
and  twenty-seven  per  cent,  of  the  immature  failed 
to  pass  at  thirteen;  at  fourteen  the  difference  was 
twenty-four  per  cent,  and  thirty- four  per  cent,  in 
favor  of  the  mature,  and  so  on  for  the  succeeding 
years.  This  school  physician,  therefore,  makes  the 
general  statement  that,  the  more  advanced  high- 
school  boys  are  in  pubescence,  other  things  being 
equal,  the  better  their  scholarship.  (2) 

Commenting  on  such  facts  as  have  been  men- 


SCHOOL   EFFICIENCY  41 

tioned  above,  Doctor  Crampton  says:  "The  great 
Doctor  Cramp-  failure  of  education  to-day  is  its 
ton's  comment  inability    to    recognize    the    fact 

(where  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  it  should) 
that  children  differ  in  rapidity  of  development.  Its 
maladjustments  are  particularly  evident  at  or  about 
the  time  of  puberty.  The  change  from  an  asexual 
to  a  sexual  life  may  occur  at  any  age  from  six 
to  twenty  years,  usually  between  twelve  and  fifteen, 
but  when  it  does  occur  the  changes  are  profound. 
In  the  short  space  of  six  months  the  child  becomes 
a  man  or  a  woman,  and  the  transition  is  fraught 
with  the  dangers  and  turmoil  of  a  new  birth.  There 
is  an  outburst  of  physical  growth,  four  or  five  inches 
are  added  to  height,  thirty  or  forty  pounds  to 
weight,  and  strength  may  be  doubled  in  a  short 
space  of  time.  New  mental  abilities  appear,  while 
others  disappear,  the  type  of  play  changes,  new 
companions  are  sought,  new  likings,  tendencies,  en- 
thusiasms and  emotions  make  up  the  whole  life. 
Old  landmarks  of  life  fade  and  new  ones  are  eagerly 
sought. 

"The  sexual  ripening  determines  an  entirely  new 
outlook  upon  life,  the  earning  instinct  looms  large 
in  the  boy,  and  the  home-making  instinct  in  the 
girl. 

"The  important  fact  that  is  constantly  disregarded 
is  the  fact  that  the  pubertal  change  leaves  the  child 
a  wholly  different  being,  different  mentally,  physi- 


42  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

eally,  and  morally  from  the  children  in  the  stage 
just  left  behind.  .  .  . 

"Sitting  alongside  of  each  other,  receiving  the 
same  teaching,  subject  to  the  same  regulations  and 
discipline,  are  children  three  or  more  years  past 
puberty,  and  others  three  or  more  years  lacking 
before  the  change  will  occur.  The  result  is  a  chaos. 
No  one  course  of  study  can  be  fitted  to  their  dis- 
parate needs,  and  no  one  form  of  discipline  can  be 
enforced  with  each  group  with  equal  success." (3) 

Maturity,  however,  as  we  said  above,  is  only  one 
factor,  even  though  an  important  one,  in  determin- 

Maturitybrings  inS  a  bo/s  Ending  in  school, 
a  new  mental  The  bad  showing  in  their  studies 

often  made  by  the  larger,  more 
mature  boys,  is  probably  not  caused  by  the  fact 
of  their  maturity  but  by  other  conditions,  which 
are  liable  to  develop  in  the  boys'  lives  within  and 
without  the  school.  The  change  in  the  mental  out- 
look which  always  comes  with  maturity  may  make 
them  restive  and  dissatisfied  with  the  school  routine 
and  school  tasks.  They  become  not  less  able  men- 
tally but  less  willing  to  devote  themselves  to  their 
lessons.  There  are  manifold  distractions  to  which 
they  have  become  more  or  less  keenly  sensitive, 
distractions  of  social  life  or  of  athletics,  the  dis- 
tractions due  to  opportunities  to  go  to  work,  and 
to  the  desire  to  do  "bigger  things."  All  these 
interests  serve  to  turn  their  attention  away  from 


SCHOOL   EFFICIENCY  43 

their  school  work.     Their  dissatisfaction  is  apt  to 

be  intensified  if  they  find  themselves  in  classes  with 

"little"  boys  even  though  the  latter  may  be  as  old 

in  years  as  they  are  themselves. 

Then  again,   an   over-age,   mature  boy,   say  of 

sixteen  or   seventeen,   in  a  first  year  high-school 

„  ..      ,        .  class,  may  be  naturally  dull,  or 

Mature  boys  in  J  J 

the  lower  grades       he  may  be  backward  because  of 

usua  y  du  irregular  school  attendance  in  the 

lower  grades.     He  is,  therefore,  probably  poorly 

equipped  to  compete  with  the  smaller  boys  in  his 

class  who  may  be  naturally  brighter  than  he  and 

who  have  been  more  regular  in  attending  school, 

and  this  also  will  tend  to  make  him  restless  and 

may  lead  to  his  early  dropping  out. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  little  boy  in  the  grammar 

grades,  while  he  is  not  possessed  of  the  wider  men- 

„«  .,„,.,,         tal  outlook  on  life  of  his  larger 
"Bright"  little  boys     ,  ,  * 

classmates     may     be     natively 

brighter.     In  any  case  he  is  not  so  susceptible  to 

the  distractions  that  interrupt  the  work  of  these 

larger  boys  and  he  will,  for  the  time  being,  tend 

to  be  a  better  student  than  they.     These  reasons 

alone  would  be  sufficient  to  account  for  the  larger 

number  of  promotions  that  may  frequently  be  noted 

among  the  smaller  and  less  mature  boys  and  girls 

in  grammar  school.     The  situation  is,  of  course, 

different  in  high  school. 

Crampton  and  Foster,  who  report  the  above  ob- 


44  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL'   AGE 

servations  on  the  physiological  age  of  boys  in  its 
No  exact  obser-  relation  to  school  progress,  do  not 
vations  on  girls  have  any  similar  data  for  girls; 
but  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  such  studies  of  girls, 
when  they  are  made,  will  show  much  the  same 
tendencies,  except  that  the  contrast  between  the 
immature  and  the  mature  girl  is  possibly  not  so 
great  as  the  contrast  between  the  immature  and 
the  mature  boy.  Such  an  assumption  would  be 
based  in  part  on  the  fact  that  girls  of  different 
degrees  of  maturity  do  not  usually  show  such  strik- 
ing contrasts  in  physical  growth  as  do  boys  and, 
furthermore,  that  girls,  in  their  early  teens,  are 
usually  subject  to  fewer  disturbing  outside  influences 
than  are  boys.  Their  lives  are  lived  more  com- 
pletely inside  the  home  and  the  school.  They  usu- 
ally submit  more  willingly  to  the  routine  of  school 
tasks.  The  adventurous,  roving  spirit,  which  in 
boys  seeks  an  outlet  in  athletic  and  gang  activities, 
appears  to  be  less  intense  in  most  girls.  At  any 
rate,  the  high  schools  generally  lose  a  smaller  per- 
centage of  girls  than  of  boys.  While  entering 
classes  are  quite  evenly  divided  between  the  sexes, 
there  are  always  many  more  girls  than  boys  who 
stay  to  the  end  of  the  course.  Many  girls,  to  be 
sure,  must  stop  to  go  to  work,  but  larger  numbers 
of  girls  than  boys  see  in  the  high-school  course 
a  preparation  for  a  future  vocation,  such  as  teach- 
ing, nursing,  domestic  science  and  clerical  positions. 
It  is  also  well  known  that  girls,  on  the  whole,  make 


SCHOOL   EFFICIENCY  45 

slightly  better  grades  in  their  studies  than  do  boys. 
Thus,  it  was  found  from  a  study  of  the  grades 
made  in  one  medium-sized  high  school  in  the  Mid- 
dle West,  of  two  hundred  seven- 
Girls  often  do  ,  ,111 
better  school  work    teen  boys  and  two  hundred  seven- 

thanboys  ty-four  girls  in  twenty-three  suc- 

cessive classes  covering  a  period  of  eleven  and  a 
half  years,  that  the  boys  made  seven  thousand  two 
hundred  seventy-three  passing  grades  and  the  girls 
nine  thousand  two  hundred  one.  These  groups  in- 
cluded only  those  who  actually  finished  the  work 
and  were  graduated.  The  girls,  as  a  whole,  thus 
stood  slightly  higher  than  the  boys  in  passing  grades. 
But  the  difference  is  more  marked  when  those  of 
each  sex  are  selected  who  did  not  make  a  single 
failure.  Of  such  who  had  perfectly  good  records 
it  was  found  that  there  were  only  eighty-seven  boys 
as  against  one  hundred  twenty-eight  girls. 

This  slight  superiority  of  the  girls  over  the  boys 

is  doubtless  connected,  in  part,  with  the  girls'  more 

early  maturity.     Since  most  girls 

togfrls* more116         reach  this  period  from  a  year  and 

advanced  a  half  to  two  years  earlier  than 

development  ,  ,  ,  ,    .  . 

boys,  say  between  eleven  and  thir- 
teen, it  follows  that  first  year  high-school  girls, 
as  a  rule,  show  a  higher  percentage  of  mature 
individuals  than  is  to  be  found  among  first  year 
high-school  boys.*  If  it  is  true  that  there  is  a 
relation   between   maturity   and   mental   ability   it 

*  Cf .  Table  II,  page  22. 


46  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

would,  therefore,  be  expected  that  high-school  girls 
would,  as  a  whole,  be  better  able  to  grapple  with 
their  studies  than  would  the  boys.  This  fact  of 
earlier  maturity  and  more  advanced  mental  outlook 
of  girls  has  important  bearings  on  the  question  of 
coeducation  in  these  years.  This  matter,  however, 
will  be  considered  by  itself  in  a  later  chapter. 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text: 

(i)  Foster,  W.  L.,  Physiological  Age  as  a  Basis 
for  the  Classification  of  Pupils  Entering 
High  Schools,  Psychological  Clinic,  IV  :  83. 

(2)  Crampton,  C.  Ward,  Influence  of  Physiologi- 

cal Age  upon  Scholarship,  Psychological 
Clinic,  1:115. 

Anatomical  or  Psychological  Age  vs. 
Chronological  Age,  Pedagogical  Seminary, 
XV  :23a 

(3)  The  Significance  of  Physiological  Age  in  Ed- 

ucation, Transactions  of  the  Fifteenth  In- 
ternational  Congress  on  Hygiene  and  De- 
mography, 19,12. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  CONCRETE   CASE  OF   SCHOOL  EFFICIENCY 

THE  present  writer  has  made  a  study  of  the 
relation  of  physiological  maturity  to  school 
efficiency  in  the  case  of  two  hundred  seventy-two 
M       .         .  grammar-school    boys   and    girls 

school  ability  in  a  ranging  in  age  from  ten  and  a 
grammar  school  half  to  seventeen  years.  There- 
suits,  although  based  upon  the  records  of  pupils 
below  the  high  school  are  significant  in  this  study 
of  the  high-school  pupil  because  the  question  of  the 
relation  of  maturity  to  school  work  is  in  part  the 
same  regardless  of  the  school  the  child  may  be 
attending.  Moreover,  our  problem  at  this  point 
is  in  regard  to  pupils  of  a  certain  age  rather  than 
of  a  certain  school  grade.  We  must  begin  by 
trying  to  understand  the  age  itself  irrespective  of 
grades.  These  children  were  first  grouped  accord- 
ing to  half  years  of  age  and  each  half-year  group 
was  further  divided  according  to  degree  of  maturity 
or  physiological  age. 

The  table  given  on  page  twenty-two  shows  the  dis- 
tribution of  these  children.  This  table  reveals  at  a 
The  complexity  of  glance  the  complexity  of  the  prob- 
this  school  group  iem  which  teachers  of  any  con- 
siderable group  of  children  of  these  ages  have  to 

47 


48  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

face.  Children  of  the  same  age  present  different 
degrees  of  physiological  development.  Take  those 
who  are  between  twelve  and  a  half  and  thirteen 
years  of  age.  From  the  table  (page  twenty-two) 
we  see  that  of  the  sixteen  boys  in  this  group, 
thirteen  are  still  "little  boys,"  that  is,  they  have 
not  yet  arrived  at  the  stage  of  maturing,  while 
three  are  in  that  stage  already.  Five  of  the  girls 
of  this  same  group  are  yet  immature;  twelve  are 
maturing,  and  two  are  mature.  The  girls  are,  as 
we  should  expect,  further  developed  physically  than 
are  the  boys. 

The  difference  in  appearance  of  children  of  the 
same  age  in  years  but  of  unequal  maturity  is  vividly 
Differences  in  suggested  by  the  photographs  of 

maturity  of  pupils  six  boys  in  this  school.*  These 
of  same  age  ,  ,       ,.  , 

boys  are  standing  in  pairs  accord- 
ing to  age  in  years.  The  picture  shows  the  ex- 
tremes of  development  which  may  be  found  in  any 
school  among  children  of  the  same  age.  One  of 
the  boys  of  each  pair  is  manifestly  still  immature, 
all  three  of  them  are  clearly  still  "little  boys."  Of 
the  other  three  boys,  the  two  larger  ones  to  the 
left  may  be  fairly  judged  as  maturing.  They  are 
in  their  period  of  rapid  growth.  The  lack  of  poise, 
characteristic  of  this  period,  is  especially  evident 
in  the  awkward  position  of  one  of  them.  The 
facial  expressions  of  both  of  these  boys  is  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  little  chaps  and  is  further 


*  See  accompanying  illustration. 


>  o 


c  PQ 


A   CONCRETE    CASE  49 

evidence  of  a  different  stage  of  development.  The 
large  fellow  of  the  pair  to  the  right  is  still  fur- 
ther advanced  in  physical  maturity.  He  has  every 
appearance  of  a  mature  or  a  postpubescent  boy. 
The  little  fellow  by  his  side  is,  for  some  reason, 
late  or  retarded  in  his  development.  Although  of 
the  same  age  in  years,  his  outlook  on  life  and  his 
interests  are  essentially  different  from  those  of  his 
companion.  The  great  difference  in  development 
often  seen  in  girls  of  the  same  ages  is  brought 
out  by  the  accompanying  illustration. 

It    was    noted    in    examining    the    above    table 

(Table  II)   that  there  were  thirteen  little  boys  in 

the  group  between  twelve  and  a 

ES!E2S££Sf     half    and    thirteen.      Even    these 

to  thirteen-year-       boys  were  probably  not  all  alike. 

gr°  We  may  be  practically  sure,  from 

what  we  know  in  general  about  the  variation  among 
individuals  in  reaching  pubescence  that  some  of 
the  boys  in  this  group  of  thirteen  were  just  at 
the  point  of  entering  that  stage,  while  some  of  them 
would  probably  not  reach  it  for  a  year  and  still 
others  might  not  reach  it  for  two  or  even  three 
years.  Extended  studies  on  the  effect  of  early  and 
late  development  of  maturity  would  lead  us  to 
expect  to  find  that  the  boys  in  this  twelve-and- 
a-half  to  thirteen-year-old  group  who  would  not 
become  pubescent  till  fifteen  or  sixteen  were  at  the 
time  of  this  study  less  well  developed  mentally 
than  their  schoolmates  who  were  just  ready  for 
puberty. 


50  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

By  examining  the  grades  made  by  these  boys 

in  this   half-year  we   can   determine   roughly  the 

_,  ..„  extent  to  which  they  were  alike 
Clear  differences  \  «     « 

in  mentality  or  unlike  in  mental  ability.    Such 

in  these  boys  a  study  of  ^  gradeg  shows  that 

seven  of  them  are  classed  by  their  teachers  as  good 
students  while  the  remainder  (six)  are  doing  in- 
ferior work.  What  the  actual  future  development 
of  these  boys  may  be,  we  can  only  know  with 
certainty  after  it  has  occurred,  but  on  the  basis  of 
studies  made  by  other  investigators  it  would  not 
be  surprising  to  find  these  boys  of  inferior  scholar- 
ship relatively  late  in  attaining  their  full  physical 
development. 

The  point  of  importance  emphasized  in  the  pre- 
ceding paragraphs  is,  then,  this:  Groups  of  chil- 
dren of  the  same  age,  especially  between  the  years 
of  twelve  and  sixteen,  are  far  from  homogeneous. 
Individual  differences  in  physical  and  mental  de- 
velopment which  are  more  or  less  apparent  at  all 
ages,  are  now  especially  noticeable  in  these  years 
and  call  for  a  correspondingly  nice  adjustment  of 
conditions  that  these  children  may  profit  as  fully 
as  possible  by  their  school  work. 

Certain  other  interesting  points  came  out  of  the 
study  of  the  grades  and  classes  of  these  two  hun- 
dred seventy-two  pupils;  points  which  throw  some 
light  on  the  relation  between  physiological  age  and 
mental  ability.  They  are  suggestions  of  relation- 
ships which,   as   far  as  they  go,   are  significant, 


bo 

< 


o 


A   CONCRETE    CASE  51 

but  which  of  course  need  to  be  confirmed  by  fur- 
ther and  more  elaborate  studies  before  they  can 
be  regarded  as  established  facts. 

These  are  some  of  the  points  referred  to  above. 

Taking  all  the  clearly  immature  children  together, 

and    likewise    all    the    maturing 

of  the  dffferent  anc^  tne  mature,  it  was  found  that 

physiological  the  first,  or  immature  group,  made 

age  groups 

more  good  grades  than  did  the 

second,  or  physiologically  older  group,  and  that  the 
second  group  did  better  work  as  a  whole  than  the 
third  group  of  fully  mature  boys  and  girls,  and 
also  that  the  girls  in  every  group  made  better  show- 
ings than  the  boys.    The  figures  are  as  follows: 

TABLE  III 

PERCENTAGES    OF   GOOD    GRADES    MADE    BY   272    CHILDREN    BETWEEN 
10  y2   AND  17  YEARS  OF  AGE 

Immature    Maturing        Matured 

Boys   68.4  57.8  45.7 

Girls  71.0  60.9  56.6 

Doubtless  the  reader's  first  thought  will  be  that 
these  figures  contradict  earlier  statements  in  this 
G     ,        ,  .  chapter,    to    the    effect    that    ad- 

younger  and  older  vancement  in  maturity  favors 
age  groups  good   scholarship.      If,    however, 

each  of  these  three  groups  is  divided  into  two  sec- 
tions, putting  together  in  the  first  all  who  appear  to 
be  developing  at  the  normal  rate  and  in  the  sec- 
ond all  who  appear  retarded  or  slow  in  their  devel- 


52  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL"   AGE 

opment  we  get  somewhat  different  results.  These 
are  shown  in  Table  IV. 

TABLE  IV 

RELATION  OF  GOOD  AND  POOR  GRADES  IN  THE  YOUNGER  AND 
OLDER  AGE  GROUPS 

43  Immature  boys  of  13  yrs.  or  younger 75%  good  grades. 

22  Immature  boys  of  over  13^  yrs 56%  good  grades. 

46  Maturing  boys  of  14^  yrs.  or  younger  .  . .  15%  good  grades. 

10  Maturing  boys  of  over  14>£  yrs 64$,  good  grades. 

9  Matured  boys  of  15  yrs.  or  younger 53%  good  grades 

7  Matured  boys  of  over  15  yrs 30%  good  grades. 

20  Immature  girls  of  12)4  yrs.  or  younger . . .  78%  good  grades. 

11  Immature  girls  over  12j£  yrs 58%  good  grades. 

33  Maturing  girls  of  13)4  yrs.  or  younger 68%  good  grades. 

29  Maturing  girls  over  13}4  yrs 52%  good  grades. 

34  Matured  girls  of  15  yrs.  or  younger 60%  good  grades. 

8  Matured  girls  over  15  yrs 40%  good  grades. 

As  far  as  the  above  data  go,  it  appears  that  the 

children  of  early  or  normal  development  in  every 

-,        ,  ,      ,  case  do  better  than  those  who  are 

Normal  develop- 
ment better  somewhat  later,  if  not  retarded, 

than  deferred  •      Ai     •      j        i  ,        T, 

in  their  development.     It  seems, 

therefore,  that  the  poor  showing  of  the  pubescent 
and  postpubescent  groups  given  in  Table  III  is  due 
to  the  grouping  together  of  those  who  are  early 
and  normal  with  those  who  are  late  and  perhaps 
retarded  in  physical  development. 

But  even  Table  IV  does  not  show  the  actual  re- 
lation of  physiological  age  to  school  standing  as 

Evidence  in  the  accurately  as  {t  ma7  h*  deter- 
marksof  mined  if  we  compare  the  stand- 

these  children  ingg  q£  children  of  different  de_ 


A   CONCRETE    CASE  53 

grees  of  development  who  are  of  the  same  age  in 
years.  For  instance,  in  the  group  of  girls  who  are 
between  twelve  and  a  half  and  thirteen  years,  there 
are  cases  of  all  three  physiological  ages  and  those 
who  are  further  developed  make  better  grades  than 
those  who  are  less  advanced  in  their  development. 
This  is  the  showing: 

Immature  girls  of  12^-13  made  56%  good  grades. 
Maturing  and  mature  girls  of  12^-13  made  69% 

good  grades. 

Similarly  for  the  next  half-year: 
Immature  girls  of  13-13^  years  made  60%  good 

grades. 
Maturing  and  mature  girls  of  13-13 Yz  years  made 

80%  good  grades. 

Of  the  boys  who  are  between  14  and  14^  : 
The  immature  made  53%  good  grades. 
The  maturing  and  mature  made  72%  good  grades. 

While  the  number  of  cases  is  too  small  to  furnish 
conclusive  evidence,  it  points,  in  general,  to  this 
conclusion:  The  children  of  advanced  development 
in  these  years  are  superior  in  scholarship  to  those 
who  are  less  fully  developed. 

It  was  also  found  in  this  group  of  children  that 

of  forty-three  maturing  boys  between  the  ages  of 

.     ,  thirteen  and  fourteen  and  a  half 
Maturity  also  fa- 
vorable to  progress  over  seventy-nine  per  cent,  were 
in  the  grades  ^   ^  upper  three   classes   7a-8a 


54 


THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 


as  against  twenty-one  per  cent,  in  the  first  three 
classes,  6b-7b. 

Of  fifty-one  maturing  girls  between  twelve  and 
fourteen  and  a  half  over  eighty-four  per  cent,  were 
found  in  the  three  advanced  classes  as  against  six- 
teen per  cent,  in  the  three  lower  classes.  This  is 
shown  graphically  in  the  following  figure  (6). 


No. 

cases    Distribution  of  the  maturing  and  mature  child 
in  the  classes  of  a  grammar  school. 

ren 

11 

10 
9 
8 
7 
6 
5 
4 

n 

2 
1 

Be 

Xs— 

12 
11 
10 
9 
8 
7 
C 
5 
4 
3 
2 
1 

i 

White  rectanf 
3lack  rectang 

\ges. 

rles  repr< 
les  repre 

12J4J  13  (13^ 

?seot  pupils 
sent  pupils 

i]  UlHiri  15  [15/S 

in  classes  6b-7b; 
n  classes  7a-8a; 

G 

rl 

t 

^ges 

ll 

[lX'/s 

iMi^*UM13#l  1*1.14^1  is  \^Y% 

Figure  6. 


A   CONCRETE   CASE  55 

It  would  not  be  safe  to  make  sweeping  gener- 
alizations from  this  study.     It  needs  to  be  extended 

over  a  longer  period  and  similar 
Conclusion  in  °  .  . 

accord  with  other      studies  should  be  made  in  other 

investigators  schools.     But,  as  far  as  it  goes, 

the  study  seems  to  indicate  a  superiority  of  the 
maturing  or  mature  child  over  the  immature  be- 
tween the  ages  of  twelve  and  fourteen  and  a  half. 
Inferior  work  seems  to  be  associated  with  late  ma- 
turity. The  results  here  presented  are  in  accord 
with  Doctor  Crampton's  generalization  which  was 
based  on  an  accurate  study  of  four  thousand  eight 
hundred  high-school  boys.  He  says,  "Earlier 
pubescence  favors  good  scholarship,  later  pubes- 
cence, poorer  scholarship.  This  should  be  taken 
into  consideration  by  all  who  have  the  care  of  the 
pubescent."  ( i ) 

As  he  further  points  out,  if  we  take  any  group 
of  boys  in  high  school  at  the  same  age,  say  four- 
teen to  fourteen  and  a  half,  we  shall  find  that  they 
are  scattered  through  several  grades.  Some  will 
be  in  the  first  term ;  others  in  the  second  and  so  on 
up  to  even  the  fifth  or  sixth.  That  is,  boys  in  the 
first  half  of  the  fourteenth  year  will  be  found  all 
the  way  from  the  beginning  of  the  high-school 
course  well  into  the  third  year's  work.  Now  the 
significant  thing  is  that  those  pupils  of  this  age 
who  are  farther  along  in  their  grades  are  on  the 
whole  the  ones  who  are  also  further  developed  phys- 
ically.    For  example,  it  has  been  found  that  of  the 


56  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

fourteen-year-old  boys  who  are  in  the  first  half- 
year  of  the  high  school,  only  fifty-seven  per  cent, 
are  mature,  while  of  the  boys  of  the  same  age  in 
years  but  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  half-year's  work, 
over  eighty-three  per  cent-  are  mature.  These  ob- 
servations clearly  show  that,  age  for  age,  the  ma- 
ture have  the  advantage  over  the  immature  in  their 
rate  of  school  advancement.  In  general,  Crampton 
finds  that  fifty  per  cent,  more  of  the  immature  boys 
in  high  school  fail,  than  do  of  the  mature. 

Not  many  observers  have  taken  into  account  the 
physiological  age  when  they  have  attempted  to 
Smedley's  findings  measure  the  ability  of  children 
in  Chicago  {n  thejr  early  teens.     Smedley's 

studies  on  small  groups  of  Chicago  public-school 
children  some  years  ago,  while  they  neglected  this 
important  factor,  showed  nevertheless  that  the 
larger  and  stronger  pupils  were  better  in  memory 
tests  and  further  advanced  as  to  class  standing  than 
the  smaller  and  weaker  pupils  of  the  same  age.  It 
is  probable  that  in  the  case  of  the  pupils  in  the 
early  teens  that  physiological  age  was  the  determin- 
ing factor. 

Interesting  evidence  as  to  the  relation  between 
physical  and  mental  development  comes  also  from 
the  study  of  mentally  defective  children. 

Doctor  Henry  Goddard,  who  has  made  extensive 
measurements  of  the  height  of  defectives,  found 
that  for  every  age  such  were  below  the  average  of 
the  mentally  sound  and  that  the  difference  was 


A   CONCRETE    CASE  57 

greatest  from  twelve  years  on.     While  we  must 
not,  of  course,  conclude  that  the  mental  inability  of 

such  children  is  caused  by  re- 
°°physkaldedy  tarded  or  imperfect  physical 
velopment  of  the      growth,   those   observations   help 

to  establish  the  relationship  which 
we  have  suggested  as  existing  between  all  sides  of 
mental  and  physical  development.  At  the  age  when 
the  normal  child  is  forging  ahead  most  rapidly, 
when  he  is  experiencing  an  intensification  of  all 
processes  of  life,  the  defective  child  is  dropping  be- 
hind all  the  more  rapidly.  His  mental  inferiority  is 
the  more  strikingly  indicated  by  the  failure  of  his 
body  to  maintain  the  rate  of  advance  which  it  has 
seemed  to  establish  in  childhood.  Thus,  without  here 
entering  into  the  causes  of  low  mentality,  we  can 
at  least  point  to  the  striking  and  widening  differ- 
ence between  the  normal  and  the  defective  in  these 
adolescent  years  in  the  matter  of  physical  growth, 
as  one  of  the  evidences  that  mental  and  physical 
well-being  go  hand  in  hand.  The  defective  child  is 
not  only  unable  to  accomplish  the  usual  physiolog- 
ical acceleration  in  these  years,  he  rather  reveals 
his  inferiority  by  still  further  falling  behind  the 
youth  of  normal  endowment. 

Referring  again  to  the  apparent  exceptions  to 
the  principle  above  stated,  namely  that  physiolog- 

_,  .      .  ical  maturity  favors  good  school 

The  mature  boy  in  . 

grammar  school  work,  the  reader  should  bear  in 

out  of  place  mind    the    following    possibilities 


58  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

and  limitations:  Mature  boys  in  the  grammar 
grades  are  nearly  always  over-age  and  hence  dull 
or  slow  fellows.  If  they  had  been  of  normal 
mental  ability  they  would  ordinarily,  if  in  school 
at  all,  have  been  in  the  high  school  rather  than  in 
these  lower  grades. 

It  is  in  the  high  school  that  we  find  the  clearest 

relation  between  maturity  and  mental  ability.    Here 

the  "big  boy"  is  where  he  should 

SsgshoCuhid°bemeth"   be  and  does  better  than  the  "little 

adapted  to  degree  bov,"  as  Doctor  Crampton  has 
of  maturity  . 

pointed  out.    1  he  cases  of  poorer 

work  in  this  type  of  boys  in  high  school  must 
usually  be  interpreted  as  due  to  lack  of  interest  in 
the  school  tasks  and  to  too  much  attention  to  out- 
side activities.  It  is,  in  fact,  quite  likely  that  the 
methods  of  too  many  of  our  schools  are  better 
adapted  to  the  minds  and  interests  of  little  chil- 
dren than  they  are  to  the  needs  of  pubescent  and 
mature  boys  and  girls.  This  is  inevitable  where 
large  numbers  of  little  children  are  in  the  same 
classes  with  the  larger  ones,  as  is  practically  always 
the  case  in  the  upper  grammar  and  lower  high- 
school  grades.  The  teacher  unconsciously  adapts 
herself  to  the  level  of  the  smaller  and  physiolog- 
ically younger  children.  They  are  more  docile  and 
receptive  than  their  more  fully  developed  class- 
mates. The  latter  are  less  willing  to  be  led ;  the 
command  of  the  teacher  to  do  a  task  is  no  longer 
a  sufficient  incentive  and  unless  they  can  see  some 


A   CONCRETE    CASE  59 

further  reason  for  doing  the  work,  some  way  in 
whicli  the  work  fits  into  and  satisfies  some  personal 
aim  or  interest,  they  are  not  likely  to  pursue  their 
work  in  school  with  much  enthusiasm.  They  are 
just  coming  into  the  age  when  it  is  natural  for  the 
normal  children  to  wish  to  plan  and  do  thing's  for 
themselves  and  if  the  school  does  not  afford  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  such  impulses  they  will  find  satis- 
faction in  various  ways  outside  of  school  and  to 
the  detriment  of  school  work. 

Much  has  been  written  and  still  more  said  of 
the   danger   of   imposing   too   much   work,    either 

mental  or  physical,  upon  the  boy 
Maythematur-  ,        .,.',.  .    . 

ing  scholar  be  or  the  girl  in  this  transition  period 

overworked?  of     life>     It  is  evident  that  the 

period  involves  a  severe  strain  on  the  youth's  phys- 
ical resources  and  that  he  should  not  under  the 
circumstances  be  overtaxed.  If  the  transition  comes 
sufficiently  early,  however,  and  is  preceded  by  a 
proper  accumulation  of  vital  force  through  a  hy- 
gienic and  easy  childhood  there  seems  to  be  no  good 
reason  why  he  may  not  continue  his  school  work 
with  increasing  rather  than  diminishing  efficiency. 
He  is,  it  is  true,  in  a  state  of  unstable  equilibrium 
and  needs  to  be  dealt  with  tactfully.  He  may  easily 
be  upset  and  his  development  disarranged  if  he  is 
subjected  to  the  wrong  sort  of  influences;  if,  for 
instance,  his  parents  or  teachers  nag  him  about 
little  things,  or  if  his  emotional  surroundings  are 
more  or  less  exaggerated.     What  he  needs,  above 


60  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

all,  is  calmness,  sympathy,  freedom  from  intense 
excitement  of  any  kind.  He  is  apt  to  be  a  ver- 
itable powder  magazine  of  emotions,  and  if  these 
are,  through  unwise  treatment,  allowed  to  explode 
they  can  spell  only  disaster,  sometimes  temporary 
and  sometimes  permanent.  The  children  who 
suffer  most  from  overstrain  in  early  adolescence  or 
who  seem  to  suffer  much  mental  retardation,  are 
probably  those,  then,  who  either  come  into  it  with- 
out sufficient  reserve  force  or  those  who  are  devel- 
oping later  than  usual  so  that  they  must  expend  an 
abnormally  large  amount  of  energy  in  their  com- 
paratively short  period  of  rapid  growth.  As  Boas 
says,  the  crowding  of  mental  and  physical  devel- 
opment into  a  short  space  places  a  considerable 
burden  on  both  body  and  mind. 

In  all  our  work  with  boys  and  girls,  we  must 
distinguish  between  their  capacity  to  do  and  what 

_.„  .   ,  they  really  should  do.     Children 

Difference  between  - 

what  they  can  do      of  three  years,  for  example,  can 

and  should  do  and  have  been  taught  tQ  rea(j5  but 

it  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  wear  and  tear  in- 
volved in  this  process  is  not  greater  than  the  gain ; 
whether  the  growing  eyes  are  not  subjected  to  an 
undue  strain;  whether  the  close  attention  involved 
in  interpretation  of  the  printed  symbols  is  not  cul- 
tivated at  the  expense  of  activities  and  interests 
which  would  be  far  more  productive  of  mental 
growth. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  period  of  puberty.    The 


iroup  "i  Thirteen  Vear  (  Hd  Boys  of  Normal  Development.  The 
>ne  at  the  Right  is  Mature,  the  Others  arc  Close  to  the  Maturing 
stage 


A   CONCRETE    CASE  61 

mere  fact  that  the  boy  and  girl  can  make  excellent 

„,     , , ,    ,  grades  in  their  school  tasks  is  not 

Should  be  free  & 

from  worry;  to   be  taken   to   mean   that   they 

normal  motives  shouM    be    pressed    or    even    t>ur_ 

dened  with  heavy  work  at  this  time.  Children  are 
now  consuming  a  large  amount  of  energy  in  grow- 
ing. Many  of  them  are  going  through  an  intensi- 
fication of  mental  and  physical  processes,  but  these 
processes  are  not  sufficiently  well  established  to  be 
in  perfect  equilibrium.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
the  youth  should  not  be  subjected  to  pressure.  He 
can  not  afford  to  worry  over  his  work.  Under 
normal  circumstances  he  ought  to  be  able  to  get 
along  in  school  effectively;  but  his  own  inclinations 
should,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  followed  as  to 
whether  he  should  do  more  or  not.  We  should  be 
sure,  however,  that  his  desire  to  do  extra  work  is 
not  brought  on  him  by  the  pressure  of  parents  or 
by  his  own  desire  to  make  certain  grades  or  to 
win  honors  of  any  sort.  If  these  motives  appeal 
to  him,  as  they  easily  may  to  certain  temperaments, 
he  should  be  shielded  from  them. 

What  both  sexes  need  more  than  all  else  is  free- 
dom to  perfect  the  physical  changes  that  are  in 
Importance  of  process.      They   need    plenty    of 

physical  exercise  fresh  air,  exercise,  long  hours  of 
sleep,  a  goodly  fund  of  objective  and  active  in- 
terests and  wholesome  companionship.  All  of  these 
things  are  the  best  of  means  for  warding  off  mor- 
bidness in  thinking  or  any  undue  dreaminess.  There 


6z  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

is  no  special  reason  why  the  normal  youth  may  not 
do  vigorous  work  if  he  can  do  it  without  strain, 
pressure  or  worry. 

Many  studies  of  school  children  at  this  period 
reveal  a  great  amount  of  illness  and  nervous  dis- 

Explanation  of  °rderS'     esPecially     amonS     &\s. 

physical  weakness  But  physicians  and  discerning 
sometimes  noted       teachers  unite  in  saying  that  this 

tendency  to  physical  breakdown  is  due  to  an  unwise 
ordering  of  life  outside  of  school.  The  actual 
school  studies  do  not  make  heavy  demands  on  the 
pupils.  While  a  few  put  in  an  excessive  amount 
of  time  studying  outside  of  regular  school  hours, 
sitting  up  late  at  night  to  get  their  lessons,  this  can 
hardly  be  said  of  the  average  high-school  pupil  of 
to-day.  An  investigation  of  the  study  habits  of 
nearly  twelve  hundred  high-school  pupils  in  three 
different  high  schools  of  varying  sizes  in  Iowa, 
brought  to  light  the  fact  that  comparatively  little 
studying  was  done  at  home. 

TABLE  V 

HOURS  OF  STUDY  PER  WEEK  OUTSIDE  OF  SCHOOL  OF  NEARLY   1,200 
HIGH-SCHOOL   STUDENTS 

Hours    0-4       5-8       9-12        13-16        17-20 

Number  of  pupils 93        643  324  103  23 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  most  common  amount  of 
time  devoted  to  study  outside  of  school  by  these 


A   CONCRETE    CASE  63 

pupils  is  five  to  eight  hours  the  week — certainly 
not  an  excessive  amount. 

As  far  as  these  figures  go  they  seem  to  support 
the  contention  of  teachers  that  it  is  not  the  school 
work,  as  such,  but  the  outside  activities  which  cause 
the  heavy  drain  on  the  pupil's  resources. 

Of  these  outside  activities  those  of  a  social  and 
recreational  nature  are  responsible  for  more  trouble 
Complexity  of  ^ian  home  work  of  any  sort.  Our 

modern  hfe  modern  life  is  becoming  far  too 

complex  for  the  good  of  the  boys  and  girls.  More 
and  more  are  the  social  activities  proper  for  adults 
indulged  in  by  children  in  their  early  teens.  Parties, 
receptions  and  dances  of  the  grown-up  type,  with 
late  hours  and  excessive  finery,  occupy  far  more 
of  the  attention  of  high-school  pupils  to-day  than 
they  did  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago.  Undue  in- 
dulgence in  social  matters  is  particularly  hard  to 
control  in  the  case  of  children  of  this  age.  They 
seem  unable  of  themselves  to  appreciate  the  need 
of  a  proper  balance  in  what  they  do.  It  is  a  period 
of  intensity  devoid  of  the  restraints  that  at  a  later 
period  will  produce  a  degree  of  moderation.  Chil- 
dren now  feel  unusually  important  and  entirely  able 
to  judge  for  themselves  what  they  should  do  or 
refrain  from  doing.  They  rebel  at  restrictions  of 
teachers  and  parents  and  seek  ways  to  slip  past 
them.  Teachers  and  parents  need  now,  of  all  times, 
to  work  together  to  secure  a  proper  control  over 


64  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

the  children,  a  control  that  will  not  be  repressive 
but  will  seek  to  secure  a  wholesome  distribution  of 
their  energies  and  a  well  balanced  growth. 

Unless  there   is  mutual  understanding  and  co- 
operation between  the  school  and  the  home  the  ef- 

„  .  forts  of  each  will  be  apt  to  be 

Cooperation  #  r 

of  school  and  quite   futile.     Many  well   inten- 

home  essential  tkm^  sensible  parents  are  com- 
pletely swept  off  their  feet  by  the  inordinate  and 
foolish  demands  of  their  boys  and  girls  for  expen- 
sive clothes.  The  girl  tells  her  mother  that  her 
classmates  wear  different  dresses  and  different 
shoes  every  day.  She  simply  must  do  as  they  do  or 
be  left  out  of  everything  or  constantly  snubbed 
as  only  high-school  girls  know  how  to  snub.  The 
mother  is  at  her  wits'  end.  She  knows  the  family 
finances  can  scarcely  be  stretched  to  meet  such  a 
demand,  but  what  can  she  do?  She  does  not  wish 
her  girl  to  be  different  from  the  others,  to  be  con- 
sidered queer,  and  so  she  weakly  submits.  Very 
likely  almost  every  other  mother  who  sends  a 
daughter  to  the  school  feels  as  she  does  but,  all 
alike,  they  are  helpless.  The  teachers,  also,  doubt- 
less deplore  the  extravagant  dresses  and  habits  of 
the  pupils.  But  they  can  of  themselves  do  nothing. 
If  all  could  get  together  and  discuss  the  common 
problem  with  its  attendant  dangers  for  the  pupils, 
it  would  be  a  long  step  toward  working  out  a  policy 
of  common  sense,  a  policy  undoubtedly  connected 


A   CONCRETE   CASE  65 

vitally  with  the  physical  and  mental  welfare  of  the 
children  themselves. 

Author  referred  to  in  the  text: 

(1)'  Crampton,  C.  W.,  Influence  of  Physiological 
Age  Upon  Scholarship.  Psychological  Clinic, 
I:  120,  1907. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  MENTAL  CHANGES  OF  THE  TEENS  ;  THE  EARLIER 
YEARS 

WHEN  any  period  of  life  is  set  off  for  special 
study  there  is  danger  of  drawing  a  picture 
that  is  exaggerated  and  untrue  to  reality.  This  is 
The  illusion  of  especially  the  case  with  both 
distinct  periods  childhood  and  youth.  In  our 
eagerness  to  state  clearly  the  traits  of  the  period 
with  which  we  are  concerned,  we  tend  to  draw 
lines  of  definite  separation  between  what  has  come 
before  and  what  comes  after.  This  indeed  has  been 
a  vice  of  all  those  who  take  up  any  part  of  a  series 
of  changes  for  particular  study.  The  geologist  at 
first  blocked  off  the  history  of  the  world  into 
definite  periods.  There  was,  for  example,  the  Silu- 
rian, the  Devonian,  the  Carboniferous,  each  clearly 
separable  from  what  preceded  and  from  what  fol- 
lowed. But  the  later  geologists  have  come  to  see 
that  there  is  no  such  clear  demarcation  of  periods. 
Each  stage  in  the  history  of  the  earth  gradually 
merges  into  the  one  next  to  it  by  a  multitude  of 
transition  periods.  The  same  tendency  may  be 
noted  in  the  study  of  the  history  of  religion,  or  of 
industry  or  of  any  human  institution.    Here  again, 

66 


CHANGES    IN    THE    TEENS  67 

at  first,  stages  were  set  off;  for  example,  men  were 
said  in  the  beginning  to  be  worshipers  of  fetishes, 
then  they  made  gods  out  of  great  natural  objects, 
as  the  sun  or  the  ocean  and,  by  a  succession  of 
steps,  arrived  at  the  worship  of  a  single  God  who 
loved  mercy  rather  than  sacrifice.  But  here  also 
the  idea  of  separate  periods  and  of  definite  se- 
quences has  been  proved  to  be  an  illusion.  Here, 
as  elsewhere,  there  is  only  a  continuous  process  of 
change  and  definite  lines  of  separation  can  not  be 
drawn  in  one  place  any  more  legitimately  than  in 
another. 

In  just  this  same  way  the  so-called  periods  of 
life  from  birth  to  maturity  exist  largely  in  the  mind 

Development  a  of  the  over-eager  observer.  The 
continuous  process    mQrc     we     knQW     about     human 

nature,  the  more  are  we  convinced  that  development 
is  a  continuous  process.  The  child  is,  it  is  true, 
different  from  the  youth,  and  the  youth  from  the 
man,  but  these  differences  have  come  about  through 
infinitely  minute  gradations  rather  than  by  great 
leaps.  Much  has  been  made,  for  instance,  of  the 
difference  between  the  religion  of  the  child  and  of 
the  youth,  and  yet  everything  to  be  found  in  the 
moral  and  religious  point  of  view  of  the  youth  had 
its  beginnings  and  its  incubation  in  childhood. 
There  is  no  abrupt  shift  from  one  to  the  other. 
This  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that  no  time  of 
life  has  any  striking  or  distinctive  characteristics. 
We  are  striving  rather  to  emphasize  the  fact  that 


68  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

what  we  always  find,  when  we  look  carefully,  is 
continuity  in  development  rather  than  abrupt  trans- 
ition. 

Even  on  the  physical  side  of  child  development, 
this  is  perfectly  true.  The  time  of  rapid  growth, 
Illustrated  in  ^  the  Period  of  Puberty  does  not 

physical  growth  normally  begin  suddenly  nor  does 
it  end  all  at  once.  Even  though  the  actual  rise  in 
the  curves  of  height  and  weight  occur  with  seeming 
abruptness,  the  child  has,  in  the  years  previous,  been 
getting  ready  for  this  accelerated  development.  He 
has  been  laying  by  a  reserve  of  energy,  as  is  evi- 
dent from  the  fact  that  when  he  has  not  lived  as  a 
child  should,  having  his  due  share  of  nourishing 
food  and  of  play  and  of  sleep,  when  he  has  been 
shut  up  in  unhealthful  quarters  and  has  had  to 
work  beyond  his  strength,  he  is  apt  to  fail  to  de- 
velop as  rapidly  as  most  children  do  in  the  early 
teens.  His  pubertal  development  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  deferred  and  may  be  relatively  abrupt. 

In  fact,  wherever  there  are  sudden  and  funda- 
mental changes  there  is  every  reason  for  believing 
that  they  are  abnormal,  due  to  unnatural  condi- 
tions of  some  sort  which  have  blocked  the  normal 
development  and  outgo  of  energy  at  its  appropriate 
season.  Just  as  the  course  of  a  river  may  be 
blocked  by  a  dam  until  it  rises  sufficiently,  when  it 
rushes  on  with  a  roar  and  continues  in  its  way. 

The  development  of  the  sex  instinct  at  puberty 
is  no  exception  to  this  rule.     The  manifestations 


CHANGES   IN    THE   TEENS  69 

_  .  ,  of  this  impulse  at  that  time  are 
In  the  develop- 

mentofthe  usually  so  striking  that  psycholo- 

sex  impulses  gjsts  have  ten(je(i  to  point  to  it  as 

an  instance  of  sudden  transition.  The  little  child 
has  been  assumed  to  be  sexless  in  all  his  interests. 
The  meaning  of  sex  suddenly,  it  has  been  held, 
dawns  upon  him  at  puberty.  This  view  is  quite 
erroneous.  The  sex  life  of  the  child  begins  at 
birth.  Gradually,  through  the  years  of  childhood, 
differentiation  goes  on,  not  merely  in  the  physical 
organism  but  also  in  mental  attitudes,  interests,  in 
general  point  of  view.  One  of  the  important  con- 
tributions of  the  study  of  early  and  later  child- 
hood has  been  the  discovery  that  sex  impulses  and 
interests  appear,  normally,  very  early  and  develop 
as  an  integral  part  of  the  childhood  self.  The 
period  of  puberty,  therefore,  marks  no  abrupt  trans- 
ition; but  is  simply  the  time  when  the  long  ante- 
cedent development  emerges,  occupies  a  larger 
place  in  the  child's  horizon,  and  attracts  the  atten- 
tion of  the  observer  so  that  he  drops  into  the  fallacy 
of  imagining  that  something  entirely  new  has  sud- 
denly come  into  being. 

This  idea  of  abrupt  transitions  has  been  further 
fostered  by  certain  special  cases  such  as  religious 

_             ,     ,  conversions,  which  have  been  ex- 
Reasons  for  be-  1-1                  .  , 
lief  in  abrupt  plained    as    rapid    shifts    in    the 
transitions  point    of    yiew       An    0jd    sdf    jg 

suddenly  cast  off  and  a  new  one  as  quickly  taken 
on.     Here  again  the  observer  is  in  danger  of  being 


jo  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL1   AGE 

deceived  by  external  appearances  which  are  easy 
to  observe  but  hard  to  evaluate  justly.  A  spectac- 
ular emotional  experience  takes  even  the  youth  him- 
self by  storm.  He  imagines  he  is  almost  a  new 
creature.  But  gradually  his  old  habits,  ideas,  in- 
terests and  emotions  assert  themselves,  and  he 
would  know,  if  he  could  properly  interpret  him- 
self, that  this  is  only  an  indication  that  the  appar- 
ently involuntary  change  which  he  has  passed 
through  has  been  a  quite  superficial  affair.  He  is  not 
radically  different  from  what  he  was  before.  He 
may  have  got  a  new  ideal,  a  new  impulse  to  live  dif- 
ferently, but  on  sober  second  thought  it  is  found  to 
be  organically  related  to  all  that  he  was  before.  In 
so  far  as  his  experience  is  vital  and  proves  to  be 
permanent  it  is  found  to  be  merely  an  external 
symptom  of  a  deeper  series  of  changes  in  his  in- 
terests which  have  been  going  on  gradually  and, 
hence,  mostly  unnoted.  The  "sudden  experience," 
is,  as  it  were,  a  hitch  in  the  stream,  or  current,  of 
one's  life  due,  perhaps,  to  some  interfering  or  un- 
usual circumstance  in  the  environment  such  as  a 
revival  meeting,  a  new  teacher,  a  change  in  ma- 
terial fortune,  some  new  book,  in  fact,  due  to  any 
of  a  thousand  possible  social  forces  which  may 
chance  to  play  on  him  at  just  the  psychological 
moment  and  thereby  bring  vividly  to  consciousness 
desires  or  purposes  hitherto  only  dimly  appreci- 
ated. 

This  is  the  point  of  view  from  which  we  shall 


CHANGES    IN    THE    TEENS  ;r 

approach  the  study  of  the  development  of  youth. 

Youth  is  a  transition  period,  but  no  more  so 
than  is  any  season  of  life,  so  long  as  life  continues 
The  point  of  view  to  be  truly  alive,  for  life  is,  in 
of  this  study  ;ts  essence>  change  and  progress 

for  better  or  for  worse.  Outgrown  shells  of  old 
ideas,  old  friendships,  old  ideals  are  being  con- 
stantly left  behind.  But,  alas,  all  do  not  attain  a 
dome  more  vast  nor  the  freedom  which  the  poet 
longs  for. 

Youth,  then,  is  not  distinctive  in  being  a  time  of 
transition,  and  yet  it  docs  have  its  distinguishing 
features — features,  however,  which  are  the  culmina- 
tions of  all  the  individual's  previous  development 
and  of  his  heredity  as  well.  It  has  its  particular 
problems  of  development  which  are  also  the  out- 
growth of  the  past  and  which  refer  specifically  to 
what  is  about  to  come.  The  transition  of  youth 
is,  of  course,  different  from  any  other  transition  of 
life — behind  is  childhood  with  its  narrow  horizon, 
ahead  is  manhood  and  womanhood — and  no  one 
can  doubt  that  the  change  from  one  to  the  other 
involves  many  problems  of  readjustment  which  de- 
mand the  serious  consideration  of  both  parents  and 
teachers. 

One  of  the  obstacles  which  confront  one  when 

one  attempts  to  describe  the  mental  characteristics 

_._    ,       .  ,  and  changes  of  the  teens  is  not 

Difficulty  of  de-  fa 

scribing  the  merely  their  bewildering  multi- 
period  of  youth  pHcity  but  the  even  greater  diffi. 


yz  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

culty  of  discovering,  with  any  accuracy,  what  the 
characteristics  actually  are.  The  youth  is  often  an 
adept  at  concealing  his  real  self.  If  we  try  to  find 
out  what  he  thinks  and  feels  he  will  as  likely  as 
not  fail  to  tell  us  the  truth,  and  without  malice 
either,  for  it  is  a  species  of  instinctive  self-protec- 
tion. When,  then,  an  enthusiastic  investigator 
gathers  statistics  about  the  likes  and  dislikes,  the 
activities,  interests,  habits  and  ideals  of  high-school 
boys  and  girls,  when  he  arranges  them  in  tables 
and  computes  averages  and  relationships  he  is  apt 
to  be  possessed  of  material  of  very  uncertain  value. 
If  the  material  is  entirely  true,  the  chances  are  it 
is  also  entirely  commonplace,  what  everybody  has 
always  known  and  taken  for  granted.  The  bare 
figures,  stating  averages,  tendencies,  etc.,  do  not 
in  any  wise  give  a  true  picture  of  the  real  boy  and 
girl.  Of  course  the  real  boys  and  girls  may  not 
be  in  any  wise  unusual.  They  are  probably  just 
average  young  people,  and  the  real  life  of  average 
people  is  not  usually  spectacular.  Their  experi- 
ences do1  not  usually  furnish  material  for  good 
"stories,"  unless  surrounded  by  some  sort  of  arti- 
ficial glamour  such  as  the  so-called  realistic  nov- 
elist throws  over  them,  thus  leading  us  to  feel  that 
i  common  life  is  something  other  than  it  really  is. 
In  a  word,  the  basic  difficulty  is  how  to  find  out 
the  true  inner  self  of  the  youth,  what  is  actually 
The  "average"  brewing   in    his    mind    down   be- 

y°uth  neath  the  level  of  commonplace 


CHANGES    IN    THE   TEENS  73 

behavior.  If  the  youth  himself  is  liable  to  deceive 
us,  how  are  we  to  find  out  anything?  How  are 
we  to  avoid  the  arid  commonplaces  of  the  scientist 
who  prides  himself  in  sticking  to  the  facts?  We, 
also,  are  after  facts,  but  we  must  beware  of  two 
extremes;  on  the  one  hand  we  should  not  assume 
that  the  highly  interesting  and  intense  develop- 
ment in  some  young  people  is  found  in  all  alike; 
on  the  other  hand  we  should  not  ignore  completely 
the  unusual  experiences  as  of  no  value  for  helping 
us  to  understand  the  more  ordinary  types  of 
youngsters. 

We  shall  not,  in  the  illustrations  cited  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages,  pretend  that  they  are  typical,  as  they 
The  value  of  the  stand,  of  youth  generally.  We 
less  usual  types  snan  assume  rather  that  in  them 
we  may  get,  in  vivid  relief,  many  suggestions  as 
to  the  underlying  nature  of  average  boys  and  girls, 
suggestions  as  to  the  tendencies,  impulses  and  so 
forth,  which  may  never  stand  out  clearly  enough 
to  be  separately  recognized  and  which  yet  actually 
operate  to  shape  the  course  of  the  life  of  the  ado- 
lescent boy  or  girl.  As  we  have  suggested,  most 
youths  are  average  youths  but,  nevertheless,  in  even 
the  average  youth  there  is  in  all  probability  some- 
thing distinctive  and  interesting  if  we  could  know 
how  to  find  it.  We  know  this  best  by  the  auto- 
biographies of  youth  which  men  and  women  are 
often  able  to  give  us  in  retrospect.  One  man  in 
writing  of  his   own   youth   and   its  strange  mix- 


74  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL'   AGE 

ture  of  outward  unconcern  and  inner  perplexity 
and  often  melancholy,  says,  "It  may  be  inferred 
that  my  above-stated  belief  that  all  boys  have  their 
lonely  times  and  their  hard  periods  is  based  only 
on  my  own  experience,  while  the  prevailing  belief 
is  that  most  boys  are  careless  and  akin  to  the  vege- 
table in  their  lack  of  serious  concern.  Those  who 
hold  that  view  do  not  know  boys  well.  They  will 
deceive  the  most  watchful  with  their  unconcern, 
but  the  moment  they  are  alone,  and  are  no  longer 
acting  a  part,  they  are  another  order  of  being. 
Catch  the  careless  boy  unawares  and  touch  his 
quick  with  skilful  finger,  and  you  will  always  find 
that  his  tears  flow  extremely  easy."(i ) 

This    apparent    callousness    and    indifference   of 
boys  and  girls  in  their  early  teens,  when  they  are 

„,,  .  brought  face  to  face  with  circum- 

The  seeming  ° 

unconcern  of  stances  to  which  we  older  people 

the  early  teens  th;nk  they  shouM  respond  readily 

and  sympathetically,  is  often  met  with  and  is 
largely  a  protective  measure  which  might  be  said 
to  be  almost  instinctive.  The  boy  usually  feels  that 
he  may  be  unable  to  say  or  do  the  right  thing;  he 
dreads  to  make  a  mistake  or  to  seem  weak  or  senti- 
mental, and  so  he  often  maintains  a  stolid  indiffer- 
ence to  an  appeal  which  he  really  feels  keenly.  He 
does  not  want  to  appear  "like  a  fool,"  and  so  he 
tries  to  avoid  looking  like  anything.  A  very  good 
illustration  of  this  attitude  is  furnished  by  a  boy  of 
thirteen,  who  had  committed  some  slight  misde- 


CHANGES    IN    THE   TEENS  75 

mcanor  in  school.    He  was  at  once  heartily  ashamed 
of  it  and  resolved  never  to  do  it  again.    Although 
the  teacher  had  seen  the  offense,  she  said  nothing 
about  it  at  the  time.     The  youngster,  however,  did 
not  escape.    A  few  days  later  the  teacher  told  him 
to  remain  after  school.     "She  reasoned  with  me," 
he  says,  "and  I  suppose  she  expected  me  to  cry, 
but  that  wasn't  in  my  line.     I  was  silent  and  hung 
my  head  in  shame,  and  it  she  had  had  the  good 
sense  to  let  the  matter  rest  there,  things  might  have 
been   very    different    with    me — but    she    went    on 
lecturing  me."     Finally  his  contrition  changed  to 
defiance.     The  teacher  noted  the  changed  attitude 
and  concluded,  since  he  showed  no  signs  of  being 
impressed  by  scolding,  he  would  have  to  be  whipped, 
and    a    savage    beating    followed,    during    which 
the  youngster  maintained  the  same  attitude  of  sul- 
len  defiance.     If  he  had  only   broken  down  and 
cried,  the  teacher  would  have  been  satisfied.     But 
he,  as  all  healthy  boys  would  have  done,  felt  that 
this  was  an  assault  upon  his  personality  and  it  was 
far  more  vital  to  his  own  sense  of  personal  respect 
to  put  up  a  show  of  external  indifference  than  to 
acknowledge   his   fault  by   breaking   down  as  the 
teacher  expected  him  to  do.  (2) 

This  instinctive  withdrawal  into  one's  self;  this 
hiding  behind  a  barrier  of  apparent  indifference 
is  possibly  more  apt  to  be  a  characteristic  of  the 
early  years  of  the  teens  than  of  the  later.  These 
years  from  thirteen  to  fifteen  are,  for  most  boys  and 


76  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

girls,  as  we  have  seen,  the  years  of  physical  ma- 
turing. The  center  of  the  personality  is  physio- 
logical rather  than  mental.  As  one  writer  has  well 
expressed  it,  it  is  "a  trying  period  when  the  child 
has  become  well  cognizant  of  the  practical  world, 
but  has  yet  no  hint  of  the  gorgeous  colors  of  youth. 
At  thirteen,  for  instance,  one  has  the  world  pretty 
well  charted,  but  not  yet  has  the  slow  chemistry  of 
time  transmuted  this  experience  into  meanings  and 
values.  There  is  a  grossness  and  materiality  about 
the  following  three  or  four  years  that  have  no 
counterpart  until  youth  is  over  and  the  sleek  years 
of  the  forties  have  begun.  How  cock-sure  and 
familiar  with  the  world  is  the  boy  or  girl  at  this 
age !  They  have  no  doubts,  but  they  have  no  glow. 
At  no  time  in  life  is  one  so  unspiritual,  so  merely 
animal,  so  much  of  the  earth  earthy.  How  differ- 
ent is  it  to  be,  a  few  years  later!  How  shaken  and 
adventurous  will  the  world  appear  then!  For  this 
waiting  period  of  life  the  virtues  are  harder  to  dis- 
cover. Curiosity  has  lapsed,  for  there  do  not  seem 
to  be  left  many  things  to  be  curious  about."  (3) 

It  is  at  this  time  that  the  child,  just  emerging 
into  youth,  seems  strangely  stolid.  He  has  passed 
the  unquestioning  responsiveness  and  frankness  of 
childhood  and  he  has  not  yet  felt  enough  of  the  up- 
rushing  vital  force  of  youth  to  step  out  in  any 
^positive  way  or  to  assume  any  definite  attitude  of 
his  own. 

The  times  and  seasons  of  every  common  trait 


CHANGES    IN    THE    TEENS  77 

will   vary  much.      We   have   seen   how    great  the 
Variation  in  variation  is  on  the  physical  side, 

individuals  Some  children  mature  early  and 

some  late.     It  can  not  be  otherwise  in  the  case  of 
the  mental  changes.    If  this  period  of  unresponsive- 
ness occurs  most  often  between  thirteen  and  four- 
teen,  it   is   closely  associated   with   the   period   of 
puberty.    The  new  impulse  to  physical  development 
leaves  the  mind  at  first  uncertain  of  itself.    Caught 
by  an  uprush  of  unfamiliar  and  ill-understood  im- 
pulses, the  boy  may  withdraw  more  to  himself  and 
seem  curiously  indifferent  to  outward  appeals  or  he 
may  take  on,  more  or  less  genuinely,  a  wild  dare- 
devil  attitude.      He   will   take  peculiar  delight   in 
breaking  through  the  restrictions  on  his  behavior, 
to  which  he  has  been  subjected  in  childhood;  he 
will  even  ruthlessly  violate  the  principles  of  good 
conduct  which  careful  parents  have  striven  to  in- 
stil into  him  as  a  child.     His  "wildness"  at  this 
time  may  be  of  a  fairly  harmless  variety,  such  as 
indulging   in   mild   profanity,    smoking   cigarettes, 
fighting,  playing  pranks  and  practical  jokes,  run- 
ning away  to  go  swimming  or  fishing,  and  in  all 
having  a   delightful   sense  of  how  wicked   he   is. 
Such  a  boy,  if  reared  in  a  religious  atmosphere,  will, 
in  his  more  serious  moments,  wonder  at  this  time  if 
he  will  ever  get  to  Heaven  and  say  to  himself  that 
he  doesn't  care  whether  he  does  or  not. 

In  the  past,  the  larger  number  of  boys  and  girls 
of  these  transition  years  who  were  in  school  at  all, 


78  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

_      ,.     ,.„.  were  in  the  upper  oracles  of  the 

Peculiar  diffi-  , 

culty  of  school  elementary   school.      But  to-day, 

adjustment  larger    and    larger    numbers    are 

finding  their  way  to  the  high  school.  Wherever 
they  are  found,  however,  they  present  peculiar  diffi- 
culties to  the  school.  They  lack  the  docility  of 
childhood  and  the  fine  idealism  that  comes  to  most 
young  people  soon  after  puberty.  These  are  the 
years  of  serious  retardation  in  the  grades,  the  years 
in  which  many  pupils  drop  out  of  school  altogether. 
It  is  most  unfortunate  that  the  completion  of  the 
elementary-school  course  comes  for  so  many  at  such 
a  time,  for  then  of  all  times  it  is  easiest  for  the  youth 
to  conclude  that  he  does  not  care  to  go  to  school 
any  longer  or,  if  he  continues  in  high  school,  he 
then  finds  it  harder  to  adjust  himself  to  the  meth- 
ods of  study  and  recitation  and  to  the  studies  them- 
selves, which  the  high  school  thrusts  upon  him. 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text: 
( i )    Jones,  R.  M.,  A  Boy's  Religion  From  Mem- 
ory.   Philadelphia,  1900. 

(2)  Shields,  T.   E.,   The  Making  and  Unmaking 

of  a  Dullard.    Washington,  1909. 

(3)  Bourne,  R.  S.,  Youth  and  Life.  Boston,  1913. 

References  for  further  reading  and  study: 
Burnham,  W.  H.,  The  Study  of  Adolescence,  Peda- 
gogical Seminary,  1 : 1 74. 
Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  The  Individual  in  the  Making, 

Chapter  VIII. 
Slattery,  Margaret,  The  Girl  in  Her  Teens. 


CHAPTER  VI 

BROADENING    VISION 

"In  the  smallest  past  we  find  an  inexhaustible  mine  when 
once  we  begin  to  dig  at  it.  A  confused  disordered  story — the 
little  made  large  and  the  large,  small,  and  nothing  showing  its 
inward  meaning.  It  is  not  till  the  past  has  receded  many  steps 
that  before  the  clearest  eyes  it  falls  into  coordinate  pictures. 
It  is  not  till  the  I  we  tell  of  has  ceased  to  exist  that  it  takes 
its  place  among  other  objective  realities,  and  finds  its  true 
niche  in  the  picture.  The  present  and  the  near  past  is  a  con- 
fusion, whose  meaning  flashes  on  us  as  it  slinks  away  into  the 
distance." 

— Olive  Schreiner,  in  The  Story  of  a  South  African  Farm. 

THE  years  which  immediately  follow  on  pu- 
berty are  possibly  of  greater  general  interest 
than  the  pubertal  period  itself.  Not  that  the  years 
The  promise  of  from  -fourteen  to  twenty  are  any 
the  middle  teens  more  important  than  the  earlier 
years,  but  their  characteristics  are  more  striking  and 
more  obviously  related  to  the  trends  of  mature  life. 
The  intensity  of  the  early  teens  now  takes  more 
definite  shape.  It  is  the  time  when  the  personality 
of  the  man  and  the  woman  begins  to  appear,  and 
the  development  of  personality  is  always  interest- 
ing. Even  though  that  personality  may  later  settle 
down  to  very  commonplace  lines,  in  its  initial 
stages  it  is  always  full  of  promise.  So  true  is  this 
that  every  thoughtful  observer  of  boys  and  girls 

79 


80  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

of  these  years  has  felt  the  truth  of  Emerson's  ex- 
clamation— "How  many  promising  youths!" 

The  earlier  years  of  this  period  are  the  tradi- 
tional high-school  years.  They  are  also  years  when 
The  high-  tens   of   thousands   of   boys  and 

school  years  girls  go  to  work,  entering  either 

a  juvenile  occupation  or  definitely  taking  hold  of 
the  beginnings  of  some  trade,  business  or  profes- 
sion. It  is  then  that  the  youth  emerges  from  the 
somewhat  animal-like  crassness  of  the  pubertal 
years  and  begins  to  think  of  his  social  relationships, 
his  duties  and  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  acts. 

The  writer  knows  a  man  who  tells  of  himself 
that  he  was  wild  and  uncouth  in  his  tastes  during 
New  interests  ^e  early  teens.     He  wished  to  be 

develop  m  the  woods,  to  live  like  a  hunter ; 

he  cared  nothing  for  carefulness  of  dress  and,  in 
fact,  refused  to  wear  warm  clothing,  even  in  winter. 
At  about  the  age  of  sixteen,  however,  he  seemed 
suddenly  to  be  born,  or  precipitated,  into  the  world 
of  social  relationships.  What  the  occasion  of  the 
change  was  he  does  not  state,  but  it  came  over  him 
in  the  course  of  a  week  or  two.  He  began  to  want 
to  dress  properly,  to  wear  neckties,  to  black  his 
shoes,  to  be  with  people  and  to  share  in  their  life. 
This  is  an  extreme  case,  but  it  illustrates  a  change 
which  comes  with  more  or  less  intensity  to  every 
boy  and  possibly  to  every  girl,  a  change  from  the 
narrow  life  of  the  child  to  the  larger  life  of  the 
adult. 


BROADENING    VISION  81 

What  are  the   characteristics   of   this   new    life 

when  it  first  begins?    So  diverse  are  the  traits,  the 

tendencies,  that  it  is  hard  to  find 
Abundant  life  ,  ,  .  . 

in    them    any    other   unity    than 

that  of  "abundant  life"  and  eagerness  to  be  and  to 
do.  The  childhood-self,  shell-like,  has  slipped  off, 
and  the  young  animal  stands  with  eager  expectancy 
before  life's  possibilities.  The  season  is,  then,  in 
a  way  the  flood-tide  of  the  energies  of  life,  a  time 
when  all  the  vital  forces  which  have  centered  in 
the  making  of  this  and  that  personal  life  reach  their 
highest  pitch,  when  they  acquire  the  momentum 
and  the  direction  which  they  will  keep  throughout 
the  rest  of  their  course. 

It  is  not  meant  that  the  energies  of  youth  are  as 
efficient  in  the  work  of  the  world  as  they  may  be 
a  little  later.  They  are  as  yet  undisciplined,  un- 
fettered, and  the  problem  of  the  teachers  is  to  har- 
ness this  abundant  life  without  quelling  it.  Of 
course  there  are  large  numbers  of  youths  whose 
lives  seem  quite  ordinary,  having  apparently  noth- 
ing to  distinguish  them  from  the  earlier  or  the  later 
years,  whose  "experiences"  would  scarcely  make  a 
"good  story."  And  yet  the  rising  tide  comes  even 
to  the  average  youth,  rising  so  gradually,  perhaps, 
that  he  is  never  clearly  conscious  that  a  change  is 
taking  place.  Moreover,  even  though  many  youths 
may  be  quite  commonplace  in  their  experiences,  the 
fact  remains  that  at  no  period  of  life  do  unusual 
or  highly  wrought  experiences  appear  more   fre- 


82  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

quently.  It  is  a  time  when  we  expect  intense  emo- 
tions, strong  reactions  and,  even  though  the  tide 
may  not  rise  high  in  each  boy  and  girl,  that  it  does 
rise  high  in  many,  is  some  indication  of  what  youth 
is,  is  some  proof  that  it  is  different  from  other 
periods  of  life.  Is  it  fair,  then,  to  describe  youth  in 
terms  of  the  more  intense  experiencs  of  possibly 
the  minority  ?  It  is  indeed,  if  we  interpret  our  data 
aright,  not  as  typical  experiences  which  come  to  all 
in  equal  degree,  but  rather  as  indicating  tendencies, 
transitions,  modes  of  action,  interests  about  which 
all  youthful  experiences  are  grouped  with  varying 
shades  of  intensity. 

The  central  fact,  the  fact  common  to  all  adoles- 
cents,   whether    average    or    exceptional,    is    the 

_.  ,,  transition  from  childhood  to  man- 

The  new  self  ,        :  ,        ,        . 

hood  and  womanhood.     At  some 

time  in  the  early  teens — for  some  earlier  and  for 
some  later,  for  girls  nearly  always  a  year  or  two 
earlier  than  for  boys — the  self  of  childhood  dis- 
solves and  a  new  self  is  born.  In  the  case  of  some 
children  this  change  is  more  or  less  sudden — so 
sudden,  in  fact,  that  the  child  himself  is  startled  by 
the  rapid  shift  in  his  point  of  view.  Perhaps  it 
would  be  more  correct  to  say  that  the  transition 
is,  in  such  cases,  effected  through  a  series  of 
changes,  one  of  which  stands  out  and  is  always 
remembered  as  typical  of  the  shift  from  childhood 
to  manhood.  Sometimes  the  change  is  so  gradual 
that  one  knows  only  after  a  number  of  years  that 


BROADENING    VISION  83 

one  is  somehow  different  from  what  one  was  to 

start  with,  that  now  one  no  longer  looks  at  the 

world  with  the  eyes  of  a  child,  but  when  or  how 

one  has  changed  one  can  not  tell. 

Sometimes    the    change    is    largely    intellectual ; 

sometimes  it  is  strongly  emotional  and  throbbing 

with   rebellion  against   authority. 

Varieties  of  change      .  ,       _  .  ,     ,    .' 

with    fierce    passion    and     lotty 

idealism.    But  even  such  intensely  wrought  changes 

are  often   forgot,   and  the  man  is  apt  to  assert 

there  was  nothing  unusual  about  his  youth. 

It  is  impossible  to  state  with  any  accuracy  the 
proportion  of  youths  whose  early  adolescence  is 
marked  by  striking  intellectual  and  emotional 
changes,  but  it  is  probable,  as  we  have  said,  that 
"high-light"  experiences  are  the  exception  rather 
than  the  rule.  The  floods  rise  gradually  and  the 
youth  is  borne  aloft  so  gently  he  usually  does  not 
give  any  thought  to  the  matter.  But  even  if  he  does 
not  appreciate  the  upheaval  in  himself,  he  behaves 
differently  and  needs  to  be  treated  differently  than 
when  he  was  a  child.  Whatever  the  change  may 
be  like,  it  always  occurs  in  one  way  or  another,  and 
the  years  involved  are  always  important  ones.  They 
are  years  that  demand  the  special  attention  of 
older  and  wiser  heads  that  no  mishaps  may  occur. 

The  little  child  develops,  in  the  main,  as  an  animal 
and  in  spite  of  his  environment.  Many  untoward 
New  significance  influences  he  can  recover  from 
of  social  influences    without    permanent    injury.      But 


84  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

the  youth,  born  into  the  great  world  of  social  re- 
lationships and  duties,  is  played  upon  by  countless 
external  forces  which  do  actually  divert  his  ener- 
gies this  way  or  that  and  determine  the  things  he 
shall  value  and  strive  for.  The  youth's  native 
ability  counts,  of  course,  for  as  much  as  it  ever  did ; 
it  is  the  vitalizing,  drawing  force  in  the  whole  proc- 
ess, but  it  furnishes  only  the  raw  material  for  the 
well-rounded  adult  life.  It  will  largely  depend  on 
the  opportunities  afforded,  on  the  play  of  edu- 
cational and  social  forces,  what  becomes  of  this 
native  energy. 

By  the  first  birth,  the  child  comes  into  a  physical 
environment,  a  bundle  of  primitive  appetites  and 
Contrast  with  impulses.     He  demands  with  un- 

the  first  birth  reasoning  imperiousness  that  his 

animal  wants  be  satisfied.  He  is  eager  to  use  his 
limbs  and  voice,  and  this  eagerness  brings  him  into 
contact  with  a  wide  variety  of  experiences.  He 
learns  how  to  act  in  the  world  of  physical  things 
that  surround  him,  he  learns  to  understand  people 
after  a  fashion,  but  after  all  it  is  a  narrow  life  he 
lives,  at  the  best.  He  is  surrounded  by  the  great 
grown-up  world,  but  his  understanding  of  it  is  at 
most  superficial.  It  makes  various  demands  on 
him  which  he  only  partly  understands.  As  he  ap- 
proaches physiological  maturity  in  his  early  or 
middle  teens,  however,  he  feels  the  throbbing  of 
new  impulses.  The  world  of  men  and  women 
gradually  opens  up  to  him  and  he  is  finally  born 


BROADENING   VISION  85 

into  it.  This  world  is  a  larger  and  more  complex 
one  than  any  he  has  hitherto  known.  He  faces  a 
new  problem,  that  of  learning  to  understand,  to 
live,  to  move,  in  short  to  find  himself  in  this  larger 
world  of  social  relationships,  of  men  and  women. 

The  study  of  adolescence  has  two  possible  ob- 
jects, the  one,  to  discover  as  far  as  possible  the  na- 
Why  study  tural    tendencies    and    character- 

adolescence?  istics  of  the  period,  and  the  other, 

to  determine  how  they  can  best  be  brought  to  a 
successful  issue  in  maturity,  that  no  untoward 
events  or  influences  may  dwarf  the  budding  spirit 
of  maturity  or  start  it  to  developing  along  lines 
which  will  harm  or  destroy  its  future  efficiency. 
The  birth  of  the  new  self  in  the  teens  is  often 
fraught  with  quite  as  much  danger  as  the  birth  that 
first  brought  the  child  into  the  world, 

The  new  self  of  the  teens  is  a  new  creature  and 
yet  not  absolutely  new.  It  is  built  upon  the  self  of 
Continuity  of  the  childhood,  and  its  successful  Is- 
old and  new  selves  sue  depends  quite  as  much  on  the 
child  who  has  preceded  as  on  the  influences  which 
surround  the  youth  himself.  If  the  childhood  of 
the  boy  or  girl  has  been  normal;  if  it  has  unfolded 
in  the  midst  of  wholesome  surroundings,  the  pros- 
pects are  auspicious  for  a  similar  growth  through 
the  critical  period  of  the  teens.  The  stage  of 
physical  maturity  will  be  reached  at  the  proper  time 
and  passed  over  at  the  proper  rate.  If  the  child 
has  been  treated  as  a  reasonable  being,  if  he  has 


86  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL'   AGE 

been  guided  rather  than  driven,  if  he  has  had  suit- 
able opportunity  to  express  his  impulses  rather  than 
had  them  repressed  by  the  stern  authority  of  un- 
sympathetic elders,  he  should  pass  the  critical  pe- 
riod serenely  and  joyously.  If  his  earlier  treatment 
has  been  of  the  harsh  repressive  type  his  manhood 
may  be  stormy  and  tumultuous.  If  for  any  reason 
his  physical  development  has  been  interfered  with 
in  childhood,  either  through  lack  of  proper  food 
or  because  of  disease  or  exacting  labor,  the  trans- 
ition to  maturity  may  be  deferred  two  or  three 
years,  and  then  his  all  too  slender  resources  will 
be  taxed  to  their  utmost  to  do  in  a  few  short  months, 
perhaps,  what  he  should  have  had  at  least  a  year, 
and  probably  more,  to  accomplish.  In  short,  the 
kind  of  childhood  one  has  had  largely  forecasts  the 
sort  of  youth  that  may  be  expected. 

No  one  has  perhaps  caught  the  spirit  of  youth 
more  truly  than  has  Jane  Addams,  in  her  descrip- 
The  quest  of  tion  of  her  journey,  as  a  girl,  to 
the  youth  Madison,  Wisconsin,  to  see  Old 
Abe,  the  war  eagle.  "We  started,"  she  says,  "one 
golden  summer's  day The  entire  jour- 
ney to  the  veteran  war  eagle  symbolized  that  search 
for  the  heroic  and  perfect  which  so  persistently 
haunts  the  young;  and  as  I  stood  under  the  great 
white  dome  of  Old  Abe's  stately  home,  for  one  brief 
moment  the  search  was  rewarded.  I  dimly  caught 
a  hint  of  what  men  have  tried  to  say  in  their  world- 
old  effort  to  imprison  a  space  in  so  divine  a  line 


BROADENING   VISION  87 

that  it  shall  hold  only  yearning  devotion  and  high- 
hearted hopes."(i) 

All  of  us  who  have  ever  had  a  season  of  youth 
find  it  easy  to  say  many  things  about  it,  and  yet 
His  spirit  char-  we  must  not  let  our  descriptions 
actenzed  t00    readily    run   over   into    fixed 

generalizations.  The  descriptions,  nevertheless,  are 
of  great  value,  and  those  that  we  find  in  poetry 
and  general  literature  often  throw  much  important 
light  on  the  lives  of  these  boys  and  girls  whom  we 
know  and  have  to  teach.  The  following  words  of 
a  recent  writer,  himself  barely  past  the  period 
of  youth,  are  suggestive: 

"How  shall  I  describe  youth,  the  time  of  con- 
tradictions and  anomalies  ?  The  fiercest  radicalisms 
and  most  dogged  conservatisms,  irrepressible  gay- 
ety,  bitter  melancholy — all  these  moods  are  equally 
part  of  that  showery  spring-time  of  life.  One 
thing,  at  least,  it  clearly  is:  a  great,  rich  rush  and 
flood  of  energy.  It  is  as  if  the  store  of  life  had 
been  accumulating  through  the  slow  placid  years 
of  childhood,  and  suddenly  the  dam  had  broken 
and  the  waters  rushed  out,  furious  and  uncon- 
trolled, before  settling  down  into  the  quieter  chan- 
nels of  middle  life.  The  youth  is  suddenly  seized 
with  a  poignant  consciousness  of  being  alive,  which 
is  quite  wanting  to  the  naive,  unquestioning  exist- 
ence of  the  child.  He  finds  himself  overpoweritigly 
urged  to  self-expression.  Just  as  the  baby,  born 
into   a   'great,    blooming,    buzzing    confusion'    and 


88  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

attracted  by  every  movement,  every  color,  every 
sound,  kicks  madly  in  response  in  all  directions, 
and  only  gradually  gets  his  movements  coordinated 
into  the  orderly  and  precise  movements  of  his 
elders,  so  the  youth,  suddenly  born  into  a  confusion 
of  ideas  and  appeals  and  traditions,  responds  in  the 
most  chaotic  way  to  this  new  spiritual  world,  and 
only  gradually  learns  to  find  his  way  about  in  it 
and  get  his  thoughts  and  feelings  into  some  kind  of 
order."  (2)' 

In  these  words  we  have  a  vivid  suggestion  of 
what  youth  is  in  many  a  boy  and  girl,  in  so  far  as 
it  is  distinct  from  other  periods  of  life.  If  the 
majority  of  boys  and  girls  pass  through  no  such 
intense  period,  it  means  only  that,  in  so  far,  their 
development  during  youth  lacks  any  clear  demar- 
cation from  later  life.  But  even  though  the  per- 
son may,  in  after  years,  regard  his  youth  as  un- 
eventful or  as  set  off  in  no  way  from  the  rest  of 
his  life,  we  can  hardly  believe  but  that  he  has  for- 
got; that  he  must  have  had  some  time,  even 
though  short,  of  budding  aspiration  and  fervid  en- 
thusiasm, some  time  when  the  self  of  the  child 
changed  into  the  self  of  the  man. 

That  there  is  such  a  transition  time  for  every 
individual,  even  though  gradual  for  most,  and  with 
Spiritual  in-  widely    differing    characteristics, 

tensity  high  n0ne  of  us  can  doubt.     That  in 

many  cases  the  period  is  one  of  great  intensity  of 
life  both  intellectually  and  emotionally,  many  of 


BROADENING   VISION  89 

us  can  testify,  and  the  biographies  of  many  men 
and  women  corroborate  our  own  experiences.  The 
testimony  of  the  poets  also  is  not  to  be  ignored.  We 
are  always  interested  in  what  the  poet  may  have  to 
say  about  this  or  that  period  of  life,  because,  if  he 
is  sincere,  if  he  has  really  lived,  his  words  often 
illuminate  dark  pathways  and  his  flashes  of  inspira- 
tion suggest  values  and  give  a  perspective  to  facts 
which  the  rigid  scientist  may  altogether  miss. 

Let  us  turn  our  attention  for  a  moment  to  the 
preceding  quotation.  What  discriminating  teacher 
of  boys  and  girls  has  not  noted  some  of  the  char- 
acteristics there  mentioned?  Every  one  of  them 
is  a  natural  outcome  of  the  transition  from  child- 
hood to  manhood.  The  child  is  literally  swamped 
with  the  rising  tide  of  vital  energy  within  him- 
self— swamped  also  in  the  midst  of  a  complex  world 
of  social  relationships  and  duties,  whose  inner 
workings  and  compromises  he  as  yet  knows  noth- 
ing about.  The  ideal  of  the  larger  life  comes  to 
the  youth  sometimes  suddenly,  sometimes  gradually. 
For  the  time  being  he  does  not  know  how  to  act. 
It  is  not  strange  that  his  responses  should  be  chaotic 
and  often  characterized  by  ill-directed  enthusiasm. 

A  great  many  of  the  difficulties  that  confront  the 

teacher  and  parent  might  be  relieved  in  some  degree 

if  they  were  to  bear  in  mind  all 
The  need  of  con-  ,..,,.,.  r 

serving  the  child-      that  is  involved  in  this  season  ot 

hood  values  mental    readjustment.       Physical 

or  sexual  maturity  always  precedes  mental  maturity. 


90  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

The  latter,  furthermore,  is  different  in  that  it  re- 
quires a  longer  period  and  is  dependent  for  its  out- 
come on  educational  influences.  Something  at  that 
time  occurs  in  the  life  of  the  youth  analogous  to 
the  experience  of  the  immigrant  suddenly  plunged 
into  the  swirl  of  an  American  city.  The  peasant 
life  of  Europe,  with  its  primitive  modes  of  in- 
dustry and  its  narrow  intellectual  horizon,  corre- 
sponds to  childhood.  Let  this  peasant  be  trans- 
ferred to  a  noisy  throbbing  factory  town  in  America 
and  we  find  him  confronted  with  most  serious  prob- 
lems of  adjustment  to  the  new  industrial  and  social 
order.  He  is  at  first  dazed  and  staggered  by  the 
mad  rushing  life  about  him;  where  can  he  take 
hold,  what  can  he  do?  How  often  it  occurs  that 
the  skill  and  the  character  of  a  high  order,  which 
he  brings  with  him  from  beyond  the  seas,  find  no 
place  whatever  in  the  American  city,  and  he  is  com- 
pelled to  eke  out  his  existence  and  is  crushed  down 
to  a  lower  level  of  vocation  and  of  living  than  he 
knew  in  the  old  home,  narrow  though  that  was. 
The  problem  of  the  immigrant  is  that  he  shall  not 
lose  everything  of  value  out  of  his  past  as  he  finds 
himself  in  the  crasser,  even  though  larger,  Amer- 
ican life.  The  swirling  American  city  needs  just 
the  fine  qualities,  the  skill  in  workmanship,  the 
social  morality,  the  fine  traditions  of  the  imme- 
morial past  that  the  better  immigrants  bring  with 
them.     If  they  are  to  be  transformed  into  good 


BROADENING    VISION  91 

American  citizens  it  will  not  be  by  ruthlessly  cast- 
ing off  as  rubbish  all  their  past  lives,  but  rather  by 
building  upon  them  as  a  foundation  the  structure  of 
their  American  citizenship,  for,  as  Goethe  says, 
"Reverence  for  the  past  is  the  basis  of  all  sound 

progress.'^1) 

In  just  this  manner  is  a  normal  transition  from 

childhood  to  manhood  to  be  sought.     Although  at 

first  it  seems  that  the  child-self 

SStSffiSf*     must  be  cast  aside  like  an  out- 

turity  in  a  health-  grown  shell  in  order  that  a  new 
ful  childhood  ,  A  .   „       ..-.         .   ...  , 

and  totally  different  life  may  be 

entered  into,  this  is  not  ordinarily  what  should  oc- 
cur. It  should  be  rather  through  a  series  of  ad- 
justments and  extensions  of  the  childhood  life  that 
the  youth  comes  to  manhood. 

The  life  of  the  normal  child  should  furnish  a 
fund  of  experiences  which  will  be  of  permanent 
value  to  him  as  he  passes  through  life.  It  too  often 
occurs  otherwise,  however.  The  demands  of  the 
new  life  opening  up  to  him  seem  utterly  different 
from  anything  that  he  has  as  yet  known.  If  he 
has  had  a  reasonably  normal  life  as  a  child,  this 
absolute  cutting  loose  from  childhood  morality  and 
ideals  is  decidedly  unfortunate.  One  of  the  great 
educational  problems  of  youth  is,  therefore,  to  ef- 
fect the  transition  in  such  a  way  as  to  preserve  in 
the  life  of  the  adult  all  the  finer  qualities  of  child- 
hood experience. 


92  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

The  happy  solution  of  this  problem  demands  a 

genuinely  sympathetic  attitude  on  the  part  of  both 

....  ,  ,  parent  and  teacher,  that  is,  a  real 
Avoiding  a  break 

with  childhood         understanding  of  each  individual 

experience  chndj   for  thfi  problem  is  always 

more  or  less  different  with  each  individual.  But 
sympathy  is  not  the  only  quality  demanded.  It  is 
quite  as  essential  to  understand  the  place  of  wise 
guidance.  The  youth's  mental  life  is  rapidly  en- 
larging and  is,  in  these  middle  teens,  being  stirred 
to  unusual  activity.  It  is  natural  for  him  to  look 
back  on  his  childhood-self  and  all  that  was  asso- 
ciated with  it  somewhat  disdainfully.  This  attitude 
must  be  appreciated  by  the  older  people  who  sur- 
round him,  but  it  should  not  be  regarded  as  some- 
thing final.  It  is  rather  to  be  taken  as  a  symptom 
of  a  change,  which  may  be  good  or  bad  according 
to  the  way  it  is  treated  or  guided. 

Both  boys  and  girls  in  their  middle  and  later 
teens  are  gaining  new  ideas  and  new  points  of  view 
so  rapidly  that  they  easily  imagine  their  experiences 
are  different  from  those  of  any  one  else,  especially 
that  they  are  different  from  any  their  elders  have 
ever  had.  The  impulse  to  assert  themselves  posi- 
tively is  very  strong,  and  within  limits  this  is  not  a 
bad  thing.  How  ready  they  are  to  give  informa- 
tion of  all  sorts  in  the  family,  and  to  expect  re- 
spectful attention!  When  they  do  not  get  the  re- 
sponse they  think  they  should  have  they  easily 
imagine  that  their  parents  or  teachers  do  not  "un- 


BROADENING    VISION  93 

iderstand"  them.  Some  children  will  then  develop 
the  habit  of  concealing  their  real  interests  and  aims ; 
they  will  turn  in  on  themselves  and  become  morose 
and  given  to  self-pity.  Others  will  become  all  the 
more  aggressive  and  will  be  obsessed  with  a  deter- 
mination to  reform  their  parents  and  surroundings 
generally.  They  think  they  know  more  than  their 
mothers,  they  criticize  their  fathers,  give  advice  to 
their  grandparents  and  are  "willing  to  decide  all 
questions   for  the  younger  members  of  the   fam- 

iiy."(3) 

All  such  attitudes,  we  say,  must  be  dealt  with, 

not  harshly  and  summarily,  but  as  symptoms  of  the 

struggle  of  the  child  to  find  him- 
Significance  of  .  .      ,     . 

the  self-assertion      self  in  a  larger  circle  of  relation- 

of  the  youth  ships  and  duties. 

The  teacher  or  parent  who  "understands"  will 
not  blame  the  boy  for  this  eager  desire  to  assert 
himself,  but  will  strive,  in  various  ways,  to  help  him 
see  that  the  most  direct  road  for  him  to  an  effect- 
ive manhood  will  lie  in  the  direction  of  continued 
sympathy  with  his  home  life  and  continued  respect 
for  his  parents.  Humble  though  their  lot,  and  nar- 
row though  their  vision  may  seem  to  him  to  be, 
he  should  be  led  to  see  something  fine  and  noble  in 
all  their  toil,  something  into  which  the  roots  of  his 
own  being  go,  and  to  which  he  must  ever  be  loyal 
if  he  is  ever  to  be  a  true  man  himself.  Self-evi- 
dent this  seems,  and  yet  how  many  boys  and  girls, 
through  the  influence  of  high-school  and  college  as- 


94  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

sociations,  grow  away  from  their  parents  and  their 
home  surroundings!  When  times  of  difficulty  and 
struggle  come  to  such  as  these,  we  find  them  turn- 
ing to  some  friend  outside  the  family  for  advice, 
with  the  thought  that  such  a  one  will  "understand" 
better  than  can  the  father  or  the  mother. 

Mistaken  as  this  whole  attitude  is,  it  can  so  easily 
develop  as  the  boy  or  girl  journeys  from  childhood 
into  maturity! 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text: 

( i )    Addams,  Jane,  Twenty  Years  at  Hull  House. 

(2)  Bourne,  R.  S.,  Youth  and  Life. 

(3)  Slattery,  Margaret,  The  Girl  in  Her  Teens. 
For  further  reading  and  study,  consult  the  ref- 
erences given  at  the  end  of  Chapter  VII. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  BIRTH   OF  A   NEW   SELF 

THE  great  problem  of  the  youth  is  that  of  find- 
ing himself  in  the  world  of  work,  social  en- 
joyment and  duty  that  surrounds  him.    This  is  not 

altogether  a  problem  of  adjust- 
The  new  self  T.  .  .  , 

ment.  It  is  quite  as  much  a  prob- 
lem of  building  up  a  new  personality  in  which  shall 
be  fused  all  that  is  vital  in  the  world  about  him 
with  that  which  is  unique  or  original  in  himself, 
for  in  every  human  being  something  new,  some- 
thing individual,  is  brought  into  the  world.  And 
progress  is  possible  in  so  far  as  each  youth  docs  not 
merely  conform  to  life  as  he  finds  it,  but  makes  it 
over  to  some  extent  in  terms  of  himself. 

The  normal  adolescent  feels  keenly  the  impulse 
to  be  himself,  to  question  all  traditions  and  all  as- 
The  impulse  of  sumptions,  to  think  things  out  for 

self-assertion  himself,  whether  it  be  in  litera- 

ture or  in  art,  in  religion,  in  morals,  or  in  social 
duties.  And  his  impulse  is  good,  even  though  he 
may  find,  in  the  end,  that  his  conclusions  are  not 
so  very  different  from  those  of  others  before  him. 
It  is  through  this  impulse  to  think  for  himself  that 

95 


96  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

he  finds  himself  and  proves  his  right  to  be  a  man 
among  men. 

Very  characteristic  mental  attitudes  are  apt  to 
attend  the  process  of  finding  one's  self  in  the  larger 
The  youth  a  world  of  social  relationships,  at- 

dreamer  titudes  not  always  appreciated  by 

teachers  and  parents.  He  feels  at  first  a  vague  un- 
rest in  his  groping  for  a  larger  life.  The  adoles- 
cent is  traditionally  a  dreamer.  He  longs  for  that 
which  he  can  not  express  even  to  himself.  He  feels 
somehow  that  he  is  face  to  face  with  a  great  thought 
which,  thus  far,  no  man  has  ever  grasped ;  he  feels 
he  is  about  to  solve  the  riddle  of  existence,  which 
hitherto  has  baffled  even  the  world's  greatest  minds. 
The  poets  who  have  begun  to  write  in  their  youth 
give  frequent  expression  to  this  haunting  sense  of 
being  on  the  verge  of  a  great  discovery.  No  words 
could  more  aptly  express  this  feeling  than  those 
verses  of  Tennyson,  beginning: 

"Break,  break,  break, 

On  thy  cold  gray  stones,  O  sea! 
And  I  would  that  my  tongue  could  utter 

The  thoughts  that  arise  in  me." 

This  little  poem  is  a  typical  exclamation  of 
adolescence,  not  merely  in  its  suggestion  of  some 
great  thought  which  grips  the  soul,  which  the  youth 
longs  to  put  forth  into  words,  and  which  yet  seems 
to  baffle  all  his  power  of  expression,  but  also  in  the 
sense    of    something    mysteriously    beautiful    and 


BIRTH    OF   A    NEW    SELF  97 

significant  in  the  play  of  children  on  the  beach  and 
in  the  passage  of  the  ships  to  their  haven  under  the 
hill. 

Longfellow,  in  such  poems  as  the  Prelude  and  My 
Lost  Youth,  strikes  a  similar  vein,  that  of  being 
overwhelmed  with  meanings  which  he  longs  to  ex- 
press but  which  defy  his  capacity  to  put  into  words. 

This  keen  sense  of  unfathomed,  haunting  mys- 
tery which  the  youth  feels  and  which  he  imagines 

he,  of  all  people  who  have  lived, 
Sense  of  mystery  '  ,  ,  .         ,. 

has  somehow  chanced  to  discover 

is  in  part  the  expansion  of  his  being  toward  the 
charm  and  mystery  of  the  opposite  sex.  Perhaps 
it  is  the  first  manifestation  of  sex  love,  not  of 
course  understood  as  such,  but  indicating  never- 
theless the  enlargement  of  interests  and  ideals  which 
must  be  at  the  basis  of  all  healthful  development 
of  his  relations  with  woman. 

We  have  emphasized  the  gradual  character  of 
the  transformations  of  youth  and  yet  there  are 
Crises  in  de-  nodal  points  or  crises  when  the 

velopment  aspect  of  things  seems  to  change 

pretty  definitely.  Not  that  there  is  necessarily  any 
sudden  break  in  the  course  of  development.  It  is 
rather  that  hidden  forces,  as  we  have  said,  gradually 
come  to  the  surface  and  make  themselves  evident 
and,  because  we  have  not  noted  them  before,  we 
are  often  inclined  to  think  that  something  new  has 
been  interposed.  These  crises,  or  turning  points, 
are  rather  analogous  to  the  experience  of  a  traveler 


98  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

who  arrives  at  a  turn  in  his  road  that  brings  to  him 
a  new  vista  or  who,  surmounting  a  range  of  hills 
or  a  mountain,  sees  for  the  first  time  a  winding  river 
and  a  fertile  valley  beyond. 

Such  a  crisis  in  the  life  of  a  group  of  boys  and 
girls  in  their  middle  teens  is  thus  penetratingly  de- 
scribed by  Mrs.  Deland.     "Eliza- 
An  illustration  ,     -  ,     ,  ,       .  ,      ,      ,    ,  , 

beth  s  long  braids  had  been  al- 
ways attractive  to  the  masculine  eye ;  they  had  sug- 
gested jokes  about  pigtails,  and  much  of  that  pe- 
culiar humor  so  pleasing  to  the  young  male;  but 
the  summer  she  'put  up  her  hair,'  the  puppies,  so  to 
speak,  got  their  eyes  open.  When  the  boys  saw 
those  soft  plaits,  no  longer  hanging  within  easy 
reach  of  a  rude  and  teasing  hand,  but  folded  around 
her  head  behind  her  little  ears;  when  they  saw  the 
small  curls  breaking  over  and  through  the  brown 
braids  of  spun  silk,  clustering  in  the  nape  of  her 
neck ;  when  David  and  Blair  saw  these  things,  .  .  . 
something  below  the  artless  brutality  of  the  boys' 
sense  of  humor  was  touched.  They  took  abruptly 
their  first  perilous  step  out  of  boyhood.  Of  course 
they  did  not  know  it.  .  .  .  The  significant 
moment  came  one  afternoon  when  they  all  went  out 
to  the  tollhouse  for  ice-cream.  ...  As  they 
sat  eating  their  cream  together,  Blair  suddenly  saw 
the  sunshine  sparkle  in  Elizabeth's  hair,  and  his 
spoon  paused  midway  to  his  lips.  'Oh,  say,  isn't 
Elizabeth's  hair  nice?'  he  said.  David  turned  and 
looked  at  it,  'I've  seen  lots  of  girls  with  hair  like 


BIRTH    OF    A    NEW    SELF  99 

that,'  he  said;  but  he  sighed  and  scratched  his  left 
ankle  with  his  right  foot.  Blair,  smiling  to  him- 
self, put  out  a  hesitating  finger  and  touched  a  shim- 
mering curl ;  upon  which  Elizabeth  ducked  and 
laughed,  and  dancing  over  to  the  old  tin  pan  of  a 
piano  pounded  out  'Shoo  fly'  with  one  finger.  Blair, 
watching  the  lovely  color  in  her  cheek,  said  in  hon- 
est delight,  'When  your  face  gets  red  like  that  you 
are  awfully  good  looking,  Elizabeth.' 

"  'Good  looking' ;  that  was  a  new  idea  to  the  four 
friends.  Nannie  gaped ;  Elizabeth  giggled ;  David 
'got  red'  on  his  own  account  and  muttered  under 
his  breath.  But  into  Blair's  face  had  come,  sud- 
denly, a  new  expression;  his  eyes  smiled  vaguely; 
he  came  sidling  over  to  Elizabeth  and  stood  beside 
her,  sighing  deeply:  'Elizabeth,  you  are  an  aw- 
ful nice  girl.'  Elizabeth  shrieked  with  laughter, 
'Listen  to  Blair,  he's  spoony!' 

"Instantly  Blair  was  angry ;  'spooniness'  vanished 
in  a  flash ;  he  did  not  speak  for  fully  five  minutes." 
They  presently  started  home,  "but,"  says  Mrs. 
Deland,  with  keen  insight  into  the  nature  of  youth, 
"childhood  for  all  of  them  ended  that  after- 
noon." ( 1 ) 

As  Bourne  says:  "Youth  expresses  itself  by 
falling  in  love.  Whether  it  be  art,  a  girl,  socialism, 
The  youth  religion,    the     sentiment     is    the 

falls  in  love  same;  the   youth   is   swept  away 

by  a  flood  of  love.     He  has  learned  to  value,  and 
how   superlative   and   magnificent   are   his   values! 


ioo  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

The  little  child  hardly  seems  to  love;  indeed  his 
indifference  to  grown  people,  even  to  his  own  par- 
ents, is  often  amazing.  He  has  the  simple  affection 
of  a  young  animal,  but  how  different  his  cool  re- 
gard from  the  passionate  flame  of  youth!  Love  is 
youth's  virtue,  and  it  is  wide  as  well  as  deep.  There 
is  no  tragic  antithesis  between  a  youth's  devotion 
to  a  cause  and  his  love  for  a  girl.  They  are  not 
mutually  exclusive,  as  romanticists  often  love  to 
think,  but  beautifully  compatible.  They  tend  to 
fuse  and  they  stimulate  and  ennoble  each  other. 
The  first  love  of  youth  for  anything  is  pure  and 
ethereal  and  disinterested.  It  is  only  when  thwarted 
that  love  turns  sensual,  only  when  mocked  that 
enthusiasm  becomes  fanatical  and  mercenary. 
Worldly  opinion  seems  to  care  much  more  for 
personal  love  than  for  the  love  of  ideals.  It  gives 
suffrage  and  approval  to  the  love  of  a  youth  for  a 
girl,  but  it  mocks  and  discredits  the  enthusiast.  It 
just  grudgingly  permits  the  artist  to  live,  but  it  piles 
almost  insurmountable  obstacles  in  the  path  of  the 
young  radical.  The  course  of  true  love  may  never 
run  smooth,  but  what  of  the  course  of  (true  ideal- 
ism?" (2) 

This  passage,  though  from  a  prose  poet  rather 
than  a  scientist,  is  full  of  deep  insight  into  the 
The  sex  impulse  psychology  of  youth,  and  it  is 
the  hidden  spring  Worth  studying.  The  sex  impulse 
is  the  hidden  spring,  the  underlying  motive  of  much, 
if  not  all,  of  the  interesting  and  worth-while  de- 


BIRTH    OF   A    NEW    SELF  101 

veiopment  of  this  period,  and  a  happy  transition  to 
adult  life  depends  almost  altogether  on  how  this 
impulse  is  utilized.  As  Jane  Addams  well  says: 
"The  early  manifestations  of  this  impulse  are  for 
the  most  part  vague  and  formless,  and  are  abso- 
lutely without  definition  to  the  youth  himself.  Some 
months  and  years  elapse  before  the  individual  mate 
is  selected  and  determined  'upon,  and  during  the 
time  when  the  differentiation  is  not  complete — and 
it  often  is  not — there  is  a  great  deal  of  groping 
and  waste.  This  period  of  groping  is  complicated 
by  the  fact  that  the  youth's  power  for  appreciating 
is  far  ahead  of  his  ability  for  expression.  'The 
inner  traffic  fairly  obstructs  the  outer  current,'  and 
it  is  nothing  short  of  cruelty  to  overstimulate  his 
senses  as  does  the  modern  city."  (3) 

It  would  seem,  then,  to  be  absolutely  essential 
to  normal  development  that  the  sex  impulse,  as  a 
Early  diffu-  definite   and   conscious   factor   in 

sion  needful  tjie    jjfe     0£    the    y0Uth,     should 

emerge  in  some  wholesome  way  from  this  back- 
ground of  general  idealism  and  vague  longing.  The 
interests  which  may  thus  develop  will  be  the  driv- 
ing impulses  and  motives  for  all  the  rest  of  his 
life.  In  the  season  of  youth  itself  this  dispersion 
of  the  sex  impulse  furnishes  a  ballast  that  will  keep 
the  boy  and  the  girl  steady  on  many  tumultuous 
waters.  To  quote  from  Miss  Addams  again:  "If 
the  values  [associated  with  sex]  'are  dispensed  over 
the  world,   the  young  person   suddenly   seems  to 


102  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

have  discovered  a  beauty  and  a  significance  in  many 
things — he  responds  to  poetry,  he  becomes  a  lover 
of  nature,  he  is  filled  with  religious  devotion  or 
with  philanthropic  zeal.  Experience,  with  young 
people,  easily  illustrates  the  possibility  and  value 
of  diffusion."   (3) 

What  a  powerful  appeal  to  youth  is  made  by 
Tennyson's  Maud!    Although  sex  love  is  the  dom- 
inant motive,  it  is  effectively  in- 
Associated  with  ...  ,,  |.£ 

esthetic  appre-  terwoven  with  many  other  hte- 
ciation  interests  and  finally  it  is  trans- 

formed into  high  ethical  purposes.  Such  passion 
easily  runs  over  into  the  esthetic  appreciation  of 
nature : 

"There  has  fallen  a  splendid  tear 

From  the  passion-flower  at  the  gate, 

She  is  coming,  my  dove,  my  dear; 

She  is  coming,  my  life,  my  fate; 

The  red  rose  cries,  'She  is  near,  she  is  near'; 

And  the  white  rose  weeps,  'She  is  late'; 

The  larkspur  listens,  T  hear,  I  hear' ; 

And  the  lily  whispers,  T  wait.' " 

Every  boy  and  girl  whose  mind  has  not  been 
too  early  opened  to  the  meaning  of  those  manifold 
Overstimulation  suggestions  of  a  sex  nature  which 
in  modern  life  pervade    and    render   unhealthful 

the  average  social  environment,  will  at  first  develop 
in  this  general  way,  especially  in  ,  the  direction 
of  the  esthetic  appreciation  of  nature  and  of  a 
passion  for  lofty  ideals.     But  modern  society,  or 


BIRTH    OF   A    NEW    SELF  103 

rather  modern  commercialism,  has,  with  an  almost 
sardonic  insight  into  the  psychology  of  youth,  set 
a  multitude  of  traps  to  thwart  the  normal  method 
of  development.  The  moving-picture  shows,  even 
the  censored  ones,  are  teeming  with  suggestions 
of  sex  impulse;  so  also  the  vaudeville  and  the  pop- 
ular songs,  the  dances,  the  stories,  the  pictures, 
whether  of  genuine  art  or  on  flaming  bill-boards, 
all  combine  to  give  definite  form  and  content  to 
the  sex  susceptibility  which  should  at  first  have  been 
diffused  throughout  the  personality,  giving  it  char- 
acter and  driving  power. 

The  great  need  of  adolescent  education,  whether 
in  the  school  or  in  the  home,  is  just  this,  of  tid- 
The  educa-  i"g  the  youth  through  these  criti- 

tional  need  caj  years,  presenting  to  him  abun- 

dant opportunities  for  satisfying  his  expanding 
sense  of  selfhood  in  wholesome  athletics,  in  oratory, 
in  debate,  in  art,  in  literature,  in  appreciation  of 
natural  beauty,  in  scientific  experiment  and  in  vari- 
ous forms  of  simple  social  service.  "It  is  neither 
a  short  nor  an  easy  undertaking  to  substitute  the 
love  of  beauty  for  mere  desire,  to  place  the  mind 
above  the  senses;  but  is  not  this  the  sum  of  the 
immemorial  obligation  which  rests  upon  the  adults 
of  each  generation  if  they  would  nurture  and  re- 
strain the  youth,  and  has  not  the  whole  history  of 
civilization  been  but  one  long  effort  to  substitute 
psychic  impulsion  for  the  driving  force  of  blind  ap- 
petite?"  (3) 


104  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

We  should  not,  then,  conceive  these  new  inter- 
ests in  a  narrow  sense.  The  central  fact  of  sexual 
Secondary  man-  maturity  is,  it  is  true,  at  the  first, 
testations  the  dominant  and  all-compelling 

one.  For  a  time  it  holds  the  attention  of  the  youth, 
in  one  way  or  another,  in  its  more  limited  physi- 
cal aspects.  But  if  his  surroundings  are  normal 
and  hygienic;  if  his  physical  development  is  unre- 
tarded  and  his  opportunities  for  self-expression  in 
a  good  social  environment  are  what  they  should 
be,  these  basic  and,  in  themselves,  animal  instincts, 
broaden  out  into  a  host  of  allied  interests.  This 
broadening  of  the  sex  impulse  has  been  spoken  of 
as  a  process  of  irradiation,  or  of  expansion.  The 
whole  tendency  of  the  better  phases  of  modern  civ- 
ilized society  is  to  afford  manifold  opportunities  for 
a  diverse  expression  of  the  new  life.  As  the  basis 
of  these  secondary  manifestations  it  becomes  the 
key,  the  hidden  motive  to  every  conceivable  en- 
richment in  the  life  of  later  youth  and  of  all  the 
succeeding  years  of  maturity.  New  appreciations 
of  nature,  of  poetry,  of  history  and  of  biography 
rapidly  unfold. 

To  many  a  boy,  some  field  of  modern  science 
opens  up  a  veritable  fairy-land  of  wonder  and  op- 
portunity. Others  crave  adventure  and  forget  all 
else  in  its  mad  quest.  The  pulse  of  the  explorer 
and  of  the  buccaneer  begins  to  throb  in  their  veins. 
Friendship  assumes  a  new  meaning.  The  mind  of 
the  youth  begins  to  open  up  to  the  characteristics 


BIRTH   OF   A    NEW    SELF  105 

of  strength  and  of  weakness  in  his  more  mature 
associates.  He  becomes  a  hero-worshiper;  an  ar- 
dent admirer  of  the  man  who  can  do  things;  who 
can  lead  his  fellow  men  or  direct  their  energies 
to  the  working  out  of  some  purpose.  He  is  as 
yet  not  always  able  to  distinguish  worthy  from 
unworthy  purposes.  His  outlook,  at  first,  lacks  per- 
spective or  a  due  sense  of  proportion.  He  is  often 
quite  as  ready  to  admire  and  imitate  the  base  and 
selfish  manifestation  of  power  as  the  more  enlight- 
ened, socialized  types.  But  he  is  not  lacking  in 
appreciation  of  the  deeper  ethical  and  social  re- 
lations and  duties  of  men. 

A  vague  crude  idealism  is  a  part  of  the  life  of 
all  early  adolescence,  an  idealism  that  is  often  early 
nipped  in  the  bud  or  suffers  in  its  development  a 
pitiful  miscarriage.  But  there  is  an  idealism  there 
to  start  with  and  often  it  carries  the  youth  over 
many  untoward  circumstances  and  renders  him 
oblivious  to  many  of  the  sordid  influences  that  play 
upon  him  and  strive  to  check  his  gropings  after 
the  larger  life  which  he  feels  is  unfolding  before 
him.  Healthful,  vigorous  outdoor  exercises,  con- 
structive work  of  all  sorts,  opportunities  for  social 
service,  religious  exercises  make  powerful  appeals 
to  him  and  afford  so  many  fruitful  avenues  for 
the  expression  of  this  new  life  that  first  comes 
to  his  consciousness  in  the  impulses  associated  with 
sexual  maturity. 

Every  youth  is,  then,  an  incipient  reformer,  a 


106  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

missionary,  impatient  with  what  seem  to  him  the 

T        .  ...        pettiness   and   the   obtuseness   of 

Impatience  with 

existing  con-  the  adult  world  about  him.     It  is 

dmons  true  that  many  aspects   of   this 

adult  world  are  petty  and  bound  down  by  useless 
compromise  with  ideals.  The  adult  world  needs 
the  vitalizing  energy  of  each  new  generation  of 
youths  to  open  its  eyes  or  even  to  sweep  it,  if 
need  be,  off  its  feet  and  knock  from  under  it  the 
props  of  tradition  and  of  complacency.  And  yet 
the  world  of  mature  men  and  women  is  not  quite 
so  blind  and  halting  as  the  youth  often  imagines, 
and  as  he  will  discover  for  himself  when  he  finds 
his  own  place  within  it. 

The  advice  of  Wendell  Phillips  that  the  young 
man  should  identify  himself  with  some  great  but 
unpopular  cause  finds  a  ready  response  in  the  vague 
longings  of  the  adolescent  who  is  fortunate  enough 
to  be  living  in  a  community  or  in  a  country  where 
some  burning  social  question  is  agitating  the  social 
conscience. 

How  common  it  is  for  boys  and  girls  in  their 

teens  to  feel  that  they  have  been  born  to  fill  some 

.     .  great   place   in   life!      Take   any 

High  aspirations  -    ,  .   ,       .       ,  .,         , 

group   of   high-school    pupils    of 

past  sixteen,  and  what  aspirations,  nay,  even  settled 

convictions  as  to  the  high  part  they  are  to  play 

in  the  world  may  we,  who  gain  their  confidence, 

discover  hidden  in  their  inmost  hearts.     This  one 

aspires  to  be  a  poet,  that  one  a  novelist,  another 


BIRTH    OF   A    NEW    SEL*1  107 

a  statesman,  still  another  a  great  musician  or  an 
orator.  We  do  not,  indeed,  mention  this  to  dis- 
credit such  a  spirit  of  high  resolve.  Nothing  in 
human  life  is  finer,  in  a  way,  than  this.  The  spirit 
of  great  men  is  essentially  the  spirit  of  youth  with 
its  never-ending  enthusiasms,  its  untiring  energy, 
its  daring,  its  vision.  It  is  not  strange  that  so 
many  of  the  world's  great  soldiers,  reformers, 
prophets,  poets,  musicians,  statesmen  have  been 
young  men  and  women. 

When  we  read  the  biographies  of  such  people 

we   find   them   strangely   like   the   boys   and   girls 

whom  we  see  every  day  in  our 

Youth  and  genius      high  schoolS)  and  on  our  streets 

and  farms.  The  world's  renowned  seem  to  have 
been  able  to  carry  to  a  fuller  realization  than  most 
of  us  succeed  in  doing,  the  impulses  which  throb 
in  the  breast  of  almost  every  live,  adolescent  boy 
or  girl.  These  high-school  years  are  years  of  prom- 
ise. The  pity  of  it  is  that  later  years  are  not 
inclined  to  view  the  promises  of  youth  with  suffi- 
cient indulgence.  Too  few  of  these  fine  anticipa- 
tions of  greatness  ever  get  worked  out.  Not  that 
these  children  should  all  normally  grow  up  to  be 
gifted  men  and  women.  The  plea  is  rather  that 
they  should  carry  over  into  their  maturity  some 
of  the  enthusiasm  and  vision  of  youth.  Even  the 
humblest  work  that  they  may  take  up  has  a  need 
of  being  transfused  and  enriched  with  the  fiery 
zeal  of  adolescence. 


108  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

This  is  the  time  when  boys  and  girls  are  hun- 
gry for  stirring  biography.  How  many  a  time  does 
one  of  our  pupils  feel,  as  he  reads  the  story  of  a 
great  thought  or  sees  that  thought  worked  out  into 
a  great  deed,  "That  is  just  the  thing  I  was  trying 
to  say,  to  do."  He  finds  his  own  best  aspiring 
self  pictured  in  the  life  of  the  statesman,  of  the 
reformer,  of  the  missionary,  and  this  glimpse,  help- 
ing him  to  know  himself  better,  is  an  important 
factor  in  his  own  development. 

Many  a  time,  of  course,  the  larger  vision  of 
life  does  not  have  opportunity  to  develop  in  nor- 
mal surroundings.     The  fine  im- 
Youth  and  crime  .        «,       ,  ,-.  ,t 

pulse     to   be   something   in   the 

world"  may  easily  run  into  semi-  if  not  actual 
criminality.  Many  investigators  have  called  our  at- 
tention to  the  large  percentage  of  crime  that  comes 
from  the  hands  of  the  youth.  Fortunately,  much 
of  it  is  not  the  expression  of  a  really  vicious  na- 
ture, but  of  the  misguided  impulse  to  find  adven- 
ture, to  see  life,  to  do  something  big  and  startling. 
It  is  not  necessary  here  to  enter  into  the  long  and 
pitiful  story  of  adolescent  faults  and  crimes.  The 
preceding  sentences  give  one  the  point  of  view  from 
which  to  understand  much  of  it.  Through  the  list 
of  references  given  below  the  reader  may  find  ample 
illustration  of  that  to  which  we  refer. 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text : 
(i)    Deland,  Margaret,  The  Iron  Woman. 


BIRTH    OF   A    NEW    SELF  109 

(2)  Bourne,  R.  S.,  Youth  and  Life. 

(3)  Addams,  Jane,  The  Spirit  of  Youth  and  the 

City  Streets. 

References  for  further  reading  and  study: 

Burnham,  W.  H.,  Hygiene  of  Adolescence,  A  Cy- 
clopedia of  Education,  New  York,  191 1. 

Daniels,  The  New  Life,  American  Journal  of  Psy- 
chology, 6 :6o. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  Adolescence,  I,  Chapter  V.  Juvenile 
Faidts,  Immoralities  and  Crimes.  Ado- 
lescence, I,  Chapter  VIII,  Adolescence  in 
Literature,  Biography  and  History.  Ado- 
lescence, II,  Chapter  XI,  Adolescent  Love. 

Starbuck,  E.  D.,  Spontaneous  Awakenings,  Chapter 
XVI  of  The  Psychology  of  Religion. 

Smith,  T.  S.,  Types  of  Adolescent  Affection,  Peda- 
gogical Seminary,  11  :iyS. 

,  Psychology  of  Day-Dreams,  Amer- 
ican Journal  of  Psychology,  15:465. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CHARACTERISTIC  PHASES  AND  DANGERS  OF  THE 
NEW  SELF 

ALTHOUGH  it  is  a  truism  to  say  that  child- 
X~\.  hood  and  youth  are  formative  periods  in 
the  life  of  the  individual,  there  are  practical  con- 
Practical  con-  sequences  of  this  principle  which 
sequences  are  0ften  neglected.  It  is  too 
often  assumed  that  the  process  of  binding  together 
of  traits  into  the  permanent  character  of  maturity 
may  be  allowed  to  take  care  of  itself/  except  in 
those  cases  where  actual  criminality  may  appear. 
But  even  in  those  cases  the  difficulty  is  not  treated 
with  a  penetrating  insight  into  the  causes,  but  by 
means  of  stupid,  rough-handed  restraint  in  a  re- 
formatory which  often  treads  ruthlessly  on  youth- 
nature,  making  matters  worse  rather  than  better. 

The  formative  period  of  youth  is  particularly  im- 
portant, because  the  traits  of  character  that  are  then 
Character  of  the  established,  and  the  pattern  of 
later  teens  often  personality  into  which  they  are 
permanent  woven,    are   apt   to   remain    per- 

manent.    While  all   stages   of  life — manhood   as 

no 


CHARACTERISTIC    PHASES  in 

well  as  childhood — possess  a  certain  degree  of  plas- 
ticity, far-reaching  or  fundamental  changes  in  in- 
terests, tastes,  temperament,  purposes  and  ideals 
are  much  less  likely  to  occur  after  twenty  years 
than  they  are  before. 

We  can  then  truly  say  that  the  paramount  need 
of  the  latter  half  of  the  teens,  the  period  when 
many  boys  and  girls  are  in  high  school  and  in  the 
first  two  college  years,  is  the  need  of  securing  a 
well-balanced  set  of  intellectual,  social  and  moral 
ideals  bound  together  by  dependable  habits  of  ex- 
pression in  every-day  life. 

The  raw  materials  that  must  be  utilized  in  this 
final  stage  of  character  building  have  already  been 

The  final  stage  Partl>'   described.      There   is,   un- 

in  character  derneath  all  the  vague  unrest,  the 

bui  ding  reaching  out  after  a  larger,  more 

complete  life.  There  are  the  many  enthusiasms,  the 
feeling  that  life  has  something  in  store  that  is 
unique  and  even  great.  There  are  the  many  per- 
plexities attendant  upon  the  dawning  sense  of  life's 
obligations,  the  conflict  of  ideals,  the  seeming 
strange  blindness  of  middle-aged  men  and  women 
to  needs  and  to  courses  of  action  that,  to  the  youth, 
seem  so  obvious  that  to  ignore  them  seems  to  be 
proof  only  of  moral  turpitude.  The  attitude  of 
many  a  youth  is  fitly  described  by  Miss  Addams 
as  "idealistic  impatience  with  existing  condi- 
tions." (i) 

A  typical  illustration  of  the  supreme  confidence 


ii2  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL1  AGE 

of  the  youth  himself,  in  his  ability  to  do  single- 
The  self-confi-  handed  what  the  world's  wisest 

dence  of  youth  }lave  somehow  failed  to  reach,  is 

furnished  by  a  boy  of  forty  years  ago  who  went  up 
from  the  farm  to  a  little  denominational  college. 
He  had  heard  that  the  theory  of  evolution  was  be- 
ing taught  in  the  geology  classes.  That  such  teach- 
ing should  be  gaining  a  foothold  in  the  college 
seemed  to  him  to  point  not  merely  to  an  unbelieving 
state  of  mind  in  the  geology  professor,  but  to  a 
peculiar  inability,  if  not  blindness,  in  those  who 
still  adhered  to  the  Bible.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
some  one  should  be  found  who  should  be  able  to 
meet  the  doctrine  of  evolution  not  merely  by  the 
plain  assertions  of  Scripture,  but  who  should  also 
be  able  to  take  the  very  facts  on  which  the  geol- 
ogist based  his  arguments  and  by  more  clear-headed 
reasoning  show  the  utter  fallacy  of  the  theory  of 
evolution.  That  he  himself  should  actually  be  able 
to  do  this  which  other  people  had  stupidly  failed 
to  do  was  his  firm  conviction  and  determination. 
How  strange  that  people  should  have  been  so  blind 
to  such  an  obvious  duty;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
what  an  opportunity  it  was  for  him !  Surely  none 
but  a  youth  could  have  formulated  such  a  purpose! 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  good  old  pro- 
fessor of  geology  carefully  introduced  this  aspiring 
boy  into  a  world  of  facts  of  which  he,  before,  knew 
nothing,  and  his  keen  mind  was  soon  enlisted  as 


CHARACTERISTIC    PHASES         113 

an  ardent  champion  of  the  teaching  he  had  imag- 
ined it  was  to  be  his  peculiar  mission  to  overthrow. 

The  vague  unrest,  even  though  unexplained  by 
the  adolescent  himself,  coupled  with  an  ardent  im- 
A  danger  and  an  P^se  to  assert  himself  in  the 
opportunity  world,  to  be  a  person  of  influence, 

is  both  the  danger  and  the  opportunity  of  that  time. 
It  is  astoundingly  easy  for  the  youth's  life  to  get 
set  in  a  narrow  channel  or  to  acquire  some  unde- 
sirable form  of  expression.  This  is  largely,  if  not 
entirely,  due  to  his  very  great  susceptibility  to  every 
surrounding  social  influence.  "Through  this  sensi- 
tiveness the  deadly  pressures  get  their  purchase  on 
the  soul ;  it  is  also  the  season  for  the  most  momen- 
tous and  potent  influences  for  good.  In  youth,  if 
there  is  the  possibility  that  the  soul  be  permanently 
warped  out  of  shape,  there  is  also  the  possibility 
that  it  may  receive  the  nourishment  that  enables  it 
to  develop  its  own  robust  beauty."  (2) 

Every  thoughtful  teacher  of  boys  and  girls  in 

their  teens  has  noted  the  tendency  above  suggested 

to  develop  well  marked  tvpes,  or 
Adolescent  types       ^^      ^  &  degree  ^  types 

are  not  radical  departures  from  the  character  the 
youth  has  had  as  a  child.  They  are  simply  the  child- 
hood characters  in  a  further  stage  of  development, 
but  now  brought  out  and  more  clearly  demarcated  as 
types  of  character,  because  of  the  larger  and  better 
denned  social  relations  into  which  the  child  has 


ii4  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

emerged.  In  some  degree  also  they  are  the  product 
of  the  effort  of  the  child  to  find  himself  in  the  larger 
world.  Concretely,  what  we  mean  is  this :  Traits 
of  timidity,  sociability,  curiosity,  truthfulness,  se- 
cretiveness,  frankness,  love  of  beauty,  love  of  out- 
door sports,  of  reading,  if  prominent  in  childhood, 
are  quite  apt  to  appear  in  the  youth  with  such  defi- 
niteness  as  to  be  distinguishing  characteristics, 
simply  because  he  is  living  now  in  an  environment 
which  tends  to  throw  into  strong  relief  all  marked 
personal  traits. 

The  unrest  and  the  effort  at  social  adjustment 
will  also  often  tend  to  throw  into  the  foreground 
and  produce  an  extreme  develop- 
ment of  some  one  childhood  trait 
which  was,  to  start  with,  in  nowise  conspicuous. 
Thus  we  find  it  possible  to  describe  many  adolescent 
boys  and  girls  by  some  one  or  more  dominant  char- 
acteristics. They  are  aggressive  or  retiring,  cheer- 
ful or  morose,  very  scrupulous  or  quite  unscrupu- 
lous, and  so  on  indefinitely.  Sometimes  the  same 
person  belongs  at  different  times  to  strikingly  differ- 
ent types,  which  then  become  moods  between  which 
he  alternates  in  most  unaccountable  ways.  But 
each  and  all  of  these  exaggerated  types,  or  moods, 
are  incidents  in  the  development  of  the  man  and  the 
woman.  They  are  of  great  significance  to  parent 
and  teacher  because  of  the  danger  that  the  youthful 
character  may  so  definitely  set  in  some  one  of  these 
molds,  even  though  it  be  a  good  one,  as  to  interfere 


CHARACTERISTIC    PHASES         115 

with  the  proper  rounding  out  into  mature  life.  The 
greatest  danger,  however,  lies  in  the  possibility  of 
undesirable  dispositions  becoming  fixed  and  per- 
manent for  life.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  whatever 
characteristics  are  allowed  to  assert  themselves  in 
this  period  are  very  apt  to  remain  permanent.  A 
boy  who  habitually  permits  himself  to  be  morose, 
untruthful,  insincere,  unsociable,  sensual  or  ill- 
tempered  up  to  the  time  he  is  twenty,  will  have 
great  difficulty  making  himself  over  into  anything 
else.  It  is  a  crucial  time  when,  as  quoted  above, 
the  "soul  may  be  permanently  warped  out  of 
shape." 

This  view  is  contrary  to  much  popular  super- 
stition regarding  this  period  of  life.  These  moods 
Need  of  wise  an(l  dispositions  are  often  looked 

direction  upon  as  mere  passing  incidents  of 

growth,  which  will  later  be  sloughed  off  and  a  new 
character  appear;  the  boy  is  permitted  to  sow  his 
wild  oats,  the  girl  to  be  ill-tempered  and  malicious 
in  her  treatment  of  others.  The  parent  or  teacher 
is  apt  to  feel  that  his  responsibility  for  training 
ceases  when  the  child  arrives  at  youth.  All  too 
readily  he  is  surrendered  to  his  own  devices.  "Just 
at  the  time  when  he  becomes  really  sensitive  for  the 
first  time  to  spiritual  influences,  he  is  deprived  of 
this  closest  and  warmest  influence  of  the  home." 
Instead  of  being  "brought  into  a  haven,"  he  has 
been  "launched  into  a  heaving  and  troubled  sea." 
"This  is  the  time  when  his  character  lies  at  stake, 


n6  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

and  the  possibility  of  his  being  a  radical,  individual 
force  in  the  world  hangs  in  the  balance."  (2) 

It  matters,  then,  tremendously  for  the  youth's 
future  what  habits  of  action  and  thought  he  now 
drifts  into  or  consciously  adopts. 

An  excellent  illustration  may  be  given  of  a  young 
girl,  a  leader  among  those  of  her  age,  attractive  in 
An  illustration  many  ways,  and  clever.     She  was 

careless,  however,  of  her  words;  she  was  often  in- 
sincere, untruthful  and  malicious.  Now,  as  a  grown 
woman,  the  dominant  traits  of  her  maturity  are 
those  of  her  late  girlhood.  She  did  not  outgrow 
them;  on  the  contrary  they  fastened  themselves 
upon  her.  She  has  few  real  friends — everybody  is 
afraid  of  her  biting  tongue,,  no  one  trusts  her  to 
carry  out  a  promise  or  do  a  single  thing  from  pure 
personal  disinterestedness. 

There  is  a  definite  and  practical  significance  in 
these  facts  for  those  who  have  anything  to  do  with 
The  youth  should  tne  guidance  of  adolescents.  First 
help  himself  0f  au   js  the  tendency   of   some 

one  mood  or  trait  of  child-character  to  emerge  and 
assume,  in  youth,  a  dominant  role.  This,  as  we 
have  pointed  out,  is  largely  the  resultant  of  the  way 
the  youth  responds  to  the  many  social  stimuli 
which,  for  the  first  time,  he  keenly  feels.  The  ef- 
fort to  find  himself,  to  assert  himself  in  this  larger 
circle  of  activities,  or  to  maintain  himself  against 
the  dominating  personalities  of  others,  causes  him 
to  adopt  a  more  or  less  characteristic  attitude  or 


CHARACTERISTIC    PHASES         117 

disposition.  This  disposition  may  be  quite  whole- 
some or  it  may  be  highly  undesirable  for  his  own 
well-being  and  that  of  others. 

The  second  practical  point  is  to  produce  in  the 
youth  a  thoughtful  attitude  toward  these  changes, 
in  order  that  his  own  help  may  be  enlisted  in  round- 
ing him  out  into  efficient  manhood.     If  unpleasant 
or  harmful  dispositions  emerge,  he  must  find  in  his 
adult  associates  sympathy  and  help  rather  than  con- 
demnation.    Although  he  may  not  be  wholly  re- 
sponsible for  the  attitudes  and  moods  that  develop 
now,  he  must  be  led  to  see  that  he  is  largely  re- 
sponsible for  their  continuance.    He  must  feel  that 
now  more  than  ever  before  he  can  take  a  direct  hand 
in  his  own  development.     His   own   intense  self- 
consciousness  and  eagerness  to  be  somebody,  to  real- 
ize ideals,  is  the  natural  soil  in  which  to  plant  the 
seeds  of  self-control.    He  can  learn  to  interpret  his 
moods  as  passing  phases  which  are  not  to  be  allowed 
to  fix  themselves  on  him  unless  they  have  real  worth 
for  meeting  life's  problems.     He  can  learn  to  see 
that  he  will  have  no  finer  test  for  his  courage  and 
his  ability  than  to  face  and  overcome  dispositions 
which  will  interfere  with  his  struggle  for  those  fine 
ideals  which  now  grip  him  with  such  force.     Even 
the  "bad  boy"  has  his  wholesome  adolescent  ideals. 
His  badness  consists,  not  so  much  in  his  purposes, 
as  in  his  failure  to  get  himself  properly  lined  up 
to  fight  for  them  effectively.     In  facing  untoward 
circumstances  "the  youth  usually  plays  the  stoic. 


ii8  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

He  feels  a  savage  pride  in  the  thought  that  circum- 
stances can  never  rob  him  of  his  integrity,  or  bring 
his  best  self  to  be  dependent  on  mere  change  of 
fortune."  (2) 

This  courage  to  face  the  world,  however  harsh 
its  aspect  may  be,  is  the  courage  he  must  learn  to 
Help  from  bring  into  play  as  he  faces  him- 

older  people  seif     The  mechanics,  so  to  speak, 

of  self-management  he  can  appreciate  now  as  the 
little  boy  could  not.  Through  conversations  with 
older  people  who  understand  the  peculiar  problems 
of  this  age,  through  the  study  of  the  lives  of  men 
who  have  been  truly  efficient  in  meeting  the  needs 
of  their  times,  through  association  with  teachers 
and  other  adults  who  have  plenty  of  wholesome 
interests  in  the  work  of  the  world,  he  should  gain 
the  idea  that  self-control  has  two  sides;  it  consists, 
not  alone  in  checking  bad  impulses,  but  in  actively 
cultivating  those  attitudes  which  he  can  now  see 
have  such  an  important  bearing  on  his  future  suc- 
cess. 

The  value  of  the  sympathetic  friendship  of  older 

people,  especially  teachers,  is  well  illustrated  in  the 

following    chapter,    "The    High- 
Help  of  mends         _  ,      ,     „    .    ,     .       _  „ 
School     Period    in    Retrospect. 

Friendships   among  young   people   themselves   are 

also  full  of  significance.     What  a  recent  writer  and 

keen  observer  of  youth  says  of  the  girl  is  also  very 

largely  true  of  the  boy.     She  writes: 

"The  social  side  of  the  girl  reveals  itself  not 


CHARACTERISTIC    PHASES         119 

only  in  the  desire  to  have  a  good  time,  but  in  the 

deep      and      ardent      friendships 
An  illustration  .  ,     ,  ,  , 

formed    during   the   teen    period. 

While  she  enjoys  to  the  full  the  society  of  the 
group,  the  girl  in  her  teens  invariably  has  a  'dear- 
est friend,'  who  shares  her  joys  and  sorrows  and 
confidences.  This  tendency  becomes  especially  evi- 
dent at  sixteen,"  and  later. 

"These  friendships  may  be  the  source  of  greatest 
blessings  or  may  mean  the  lowering  of  the  whole 
tone  of  her  moral  life.  Both  mother  and  teacher 
need  to  observe  carefully  the  formation  of  friend- 
ships and  be  sure  to  encourage  only  the  helpful 
ones.  Public  school  teachers  of  experience  can  all 
testify  to  the  rapid  changes  in  girls  which  so  often 
follow  the  development  of  a  deep  friendship. 

"I  remember  a  girl  of  sixteen,  dreamy,  imagi- 
native, and  so  much  interested  in  her  boy  compan- 
ions that  lessons,  home  interests,  and  everything 
else  were  sacrificed.  What  to  do  with  her  and  what 
interests  to  substitute  were  questions  that  both 
mother  and  teacher  failed  to  solve.  At  a  most  op- 
portune time  a  'new  girl'  moved  into  the  neighbor- 
hood and  entered  school.  She  was  practical,  at- 
tractive, a  good  scholar,  greatly  interested  in  out- 
door athletics."  A  friendship  sprang  up  between 
the  two  girls.  "Soon  the  dreamy  sixteen-year-old 
was  playing  tennis  on  summer  afternoons,  and 
reading  aloud  in  the  hammock  afterward  to  rest. 
When  winter  came  she  suddenly  decided  that  school 


120  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

and  study  were  worth  while,  brought  up  all  her 

averages  and  made  up  her  mind  to  try  for  college. 

Skating  and  the  gymnasium  made  her  a  new  girl. 

And  all  this  transformation,   fortunately   for  her 

good,  came  naturally  and  very  rapidly  through  the 

influence  of  her  companion.     It  comes  almost  as 

quickly   in  the   other  direction.      Nothing  can  be 

more  helpful  to  the  shy,  timid,  self-conscious  girl 

than  the  companionship  of  one  who  will  encourage 

her  and  help  her  to  take  her  place  with  others  in 

the  social  life  of  which  she  is  a  part."  (3)' 

The  preceding  pages  should  give  the  reader  a 

proper  background   for   the   consideration   of   the 

moral  education  problem  in  high 
A  supreme  oppor-  r  . 

tunity  for  moral        school.     These  years,  with  their 

training  development  of  a  new  selfhood, 

with  their  impulse  for  life  and  action,  with  their 

appreciations  of  friendship  and  their  susceptibility 

to  social  influences  and,  withal,  their  devotion  to 

"causes"  and  their  impulse  to  serve,  are  surely  the 

years  above  all  others  for  moral  training. 

May  we  be  allowed  to  quote  Miss  Addams  again  ? 
These  words  of  hers  set  the  matter  in  the  light  in 
which  we  believe  it  should  always  be  approached 
in  the  high  school. 

"It  would  seem  a  golden  opportunity  for  those 
to  whom  is  committed  the  task  of  spiritual  in- 
struction, for  to  preach  and  seek  justice  in  human 
affairs  is  one  of  the.  oldest  obligations  of  religion 


CHARACTERISTIC   PHASES         121 

and  morality.  All  that  would  be  necessary  would 
be  to  attach  this  teaching  to  the  contemporary  world 
in  such  wise  that  the  eager  youth  might  feel  a  tug 
upon  his  faculties,  and  a  sense  of  participation  in 
the  moral  life  about  him.  .  .  . 

"Each  generation  of  moralists  and  educators  find 
themselves  facing  an  inevitable  dilemma;  first,  to 
keep  the  young  committed  to  their  charge  'unspotted 
from  the  world,'  and,  second,  to  connect  the  young 
with  the  ruthless  and  materialistic  world  all  about 
them  in  such  wise  that  they  may  make  it  the  arena 
for  their  spiritual  endeavor.  It  is  fortunate  for 
those  teachers  that  some  time  during  'The  Golden 
Age'  the  most  prosaic  youth  is  seized  by  a  new  in- 
terest in  remote  and  universal  ends,  and  that  if  but 
given  a  clue  by  which  he  may  connect  his  lofty  aims 
with  his  daily  being,  he  himself  will  drag  the  very 
heavens  into  the  most  sordid  tenement.  The  per- 
petual difficulty  consists  in  finding  the  clue  for  him 
and  placing  it  in  his  hands,  for  if  the  teaching  is 
too  detached  from  life,  it  does  not  result  in  any 
psychic  impulsion  at  all."(i) 

The  opportunity  of  these  years  for  wise  moral 
training  is  as  yet  largely  neglected.  What  is  needed 
An  opportunity  is  something  more  than  mere  "in- 
largely  neglected  cidental  instruction"  or  "whole- 
some school  atmosphere."  The  youth  needs  to  be 
led  to  think  about  questions  of  conduct.  In  fact, 
he  does  think  about  them,  but  unless  his  thinking  is 


122  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

guided  it  will  often  go  astray.  The  purpose  of  ex- 
plicit moral  training  in  the  high  school  should  be 
to  cultivate  a  sound  moral  thought  fulness  about  the 
various  concrete  situations  which  present  them- 
selves to  modern  high-school  boys  and  girls.  Peo- 
ple conversant  with  the  morals  of  the  high  school 
tell  us  they  are  pitched  on  a  most  discouragingly 
low  plane.  Theft,  dishonesty  in  connection  with 
studies  and  athletics,  and  still  worse  forms  of  so- 
cial and  personal  immorality  prevail  to  an  alarming 
degree.  (4)  Is  it  because  the  adolescent  is  by  na- 
ture immoral  ?  This  can  hardly  be,  for  such  a  con- 
clusion would  run  counter  to  all  our  previous  dis- 
cussion, and  is  disproved  by  the  high  standards  of 
conduct  maintained  by  boys  in  English  secondary 
schools.  No,  the  fault  is  largely  due  to  neglect  on 
the  part  of  the  school  to  give  the  training  needed, 
a  training  which  we  believe  the  boys  and  girls  in 
their  teens  are  quite  ready  to  receive. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  suitable  methods 
of  moral  training.  We  can  only  refer  the  reader 
A  suggestive  to  one  °^  tne  admirable  schemes 

method  which  is  now  being  worked  out 

and  applied  in  a  few  of  our  schools.  It  is  care- 
fully adjusted  to  the  interests  and  general  point  of 
view  of  the  teens  and,  if  faithfully  followed,  would, 
we  believe,  do  much  toward  filling  the  present  se- 
rious gap  in  the  training  of  the  adolescent  in  the 
American  high  school.    We  refer  to  the  course  of 


CHARACTERISTIC    PHASES         123 

moral  instruction  developed  by  Sharp  and  Neu- 
mann, and  published  in  outline  in  a  recent  number 
of  Religious  Education.  (5)' 

High-school  life  is  replete  not  only  with  oppor- 
tunities for  direct  and  wholesome  moral  instruction, 
Opportunities  for  b"t  also  with  opportunities  for  ex- 
social  service  perience  in  right  living  in  the 
broadest  sense  of  that  term,  and  this  latter  phase  is 
quite  as  important  as  the  preceding.  Every  high 
school  which  seeks  the  best  for  its  youths  must  aim 
to  develop  all  sorts  of  opportunities  for  social  mor- 
ality within  and  without  the  school.  Many  high 
schools  have  shown  that  it  is  possible  for  their 
pupils  to  participate  in  various  forms  of  social  serv- 
ice to  the  community.  Such  opportunities  are,  if 
rightly  presented,  usually  embraced  by  the  pupils, 
young  reformers  and  missionaries  as  they  are,  with 
an  eagerness  that  is  almost  disconcerting. 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text : 

(1)  Addams,  Jane,  The  Spirit  of  Youth  and  the 

City  Streets. 

(2)  Bourne,  R.  S.,  Youth  and  Life. 

(3)  Slattery,  Margaret,  The  Girl  in  Her  Teens. 

(4)  Johnson,  F.  W.,  The  High-School  Boy's  Mor- 

als, School  Review,  20:81. 

(5)  Sharp  and  Neumann,  A  Course  in  Moral  Edu- 

cation, Religious  Education,  7:653. 

References  for  further  reading  and  study: 
Angell,  J.  R..  Facts  and  Problems,  The  World  To- 
day, 10:374. 


i24  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  The  Individual  in  the  Making, 
Chapter  IX. 

Reudiger,  W.  C,  The  Period  of  Mental  Reconstruc- 
tion,   American    Journal    of    Psychology, 

18:353. 
Starbuck,  E.  D.,  The  Psychology  of  Religion: 

Storm  and  Stress,  Chapter  XVII. 

The  Birth  of  a  Larger  Self,  Chapter  XX. 
Swett,  H.  P.,  The  High-School  Pupil,  Education, 

31 .224. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   HIGH-SCHOOL  PERIOD  IN   RETROSPECT 

FROM  time  to  time  the  writer  of  these  pages 
has  collected  from  his  students  reminiscences 
of  their  high-school  experiences.     These  students 

Reminiscences  of  were  asked  to  describe  any  inci- 
high-school  life  dents  or  phases  of  their  high- 
school  life  which  they  felt  might  be  worth  their 
remembering  when  they  themselves  entered  such 
schools  as  teachers.  It  was  suggested  to  them  that 
these  reminiscences  might  be  of  any  sort,  such  as 
their  own  personal  attitudes,  interests  and  aims,  dis- 
tinctive mental  or  emotional  traits,  their  relations 
to  their  studies,  their  teachers,  and  any  aspects  of 
the  general  social  life  of  the  school  which,  in  look- 
ing back,  seemed  significant  as  pointing  out  either 
what  they  themselves  should  do  or  avoid  doing  as 
high-school  teachers. 

It  should  surely  be  of  some  value  to  teachers  to 
know  what  sort  of  lasting  impressions  their  pupils 
Value  of  such  carry  away  with  them  into  later 

a  record  years.     A  record  of  such  impres- 

sions, even  though  it  be  naive,  should  throw  some 
light  on  the  human  nature  of  real  high-school  boys 

125 


126  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL'   AGE 

and  girls.  Any  attempt  to  paint  a  general  picture 
of  the  mental  life  of  the  teens  is  apt  to  exaggerate 
the  high  lights.  If  there  is  any  possibility  that  the 
preceding  pages  have  described  extreme  and  un- 
usual types  the  accounts  which  follow  will  furnish 
a  certain  corrective;  will  picture  what  some  have 
liked  to  call  the  "real  high-school  student." 

The  objection  that  these  records  are  from  a  se- 
lected group  of  high-school  students,  those  who 
have  gone  to  college,  and  who  are,  therefore,  not 
fairly  representative,  is  not  well-founded.  The 
only  way  in  which  these  students  are  probably 
different  from  the  larger  class  who  have  not  con- 
tinued in  school  is  in  their  possibly  greater  ability 
to  give  a  better  introspective  account  of  the  ex- 
periences of  the  years  just  past  than  those  who 
have  not  had  the  further  training  in  scholastic 
work. 

The  experiences  of  high-school  life  mentroned  by 
these  students  are  probably,  then,  quite  character- 
istic of  all  high-school  pupils;  the  difficulties,  in 
fact,  would  be  quite  as  keenly  felt,  if  not  more  so, 
by  those  who  failed  to  overcome  them  and  continue 
their  work  in  higher  schools.  Indeed  the  student 
who  has  successfully  completed  his  high-school 
course  and  has  gone  on  to  college  would  be  le6s 
likely  to  emphasize  the  difficulties  of  the  high  school 
than  those  who  had  spent  only  a  year  or  more  in 
school  or  who  stopped  with  the  completion  of  the 
four-year  course. 


IN    RETROSPECT  127 

These  are  essentially  human  documents.  It 
would  be  futile  to  try  to  summarize  them  and  to 
Range  of  in-  state  percentages,  and  yet  the  quo- 

dividuality  tations  show  with  entire  fairness 

the  attitudes  of  these  students  toward  their  high- 
school  life.  The  first  impression  one  gets  in  read- 
ing them  is  the  wide  range  of  individuality  repre- 
sented by  their  writers.  There  is  every  variety 
from  the  phlegmatic,  unemotional  student  who  can 
think  of  nothing  in  particular,  to  the  intense  emo- 
tional type,  whose  high-school  life  was  richly  col- 
ored by  "experiences  which  he  will  never  forget." 
This  very  diversity  of  types  is  in  itself  a  significant 
fact  for  the  teachers  of  boys  and  girls  in  their  teens 
to  bear  constantly  in  mind. 

To  many  a  pupil,  the  high  school  opens  as  a  new 

world  of  mysterious  possibilities.     This  attitude  of 

__.  ,      ,     ,  eager    anticipation    is    well    ex- 

High  school  a  &  r 

new  world  to  pressed  by  one  student,  who  says: 

some  pupils  «j  can  stm  fed  the  thriu  of  ex_ 

pectancy  with  which,  for  example,  I  entered  upon 
the  study  of  Latin.  The  teacher  was  the  guide. 
She  knew  Latin  land,  and  we  were  eager  to  fol- 
low her  through  that  delightful  country.  My 
English  work  was  not  a  gray  monotony  of  themes. 
It  was  colored  with  the  purple  of  imagination." 

"It  was  the  greatest  event  of  my  life  when  I 
entered  the  academy  as  a  freshman." 

And  yet  the  transition  is  often  affected  with 
difficulty.     Another  says:     "It  was  with  a  great 


128  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

Difficulties  of  ^ea^  of  pleasure  that  I  looked  for- 

entenng  ward   to   my   entrance   into   the 

high  school.  Why  I  was  going  I  never  seriously 
considered;  I  just  took  it  for  granted,  as  did  my 
parents,  that  I  should  go  through.  But  my  real 
entrance  was  far  different  from  what  I  had  pictured 
it  to  be  in  my  mind.  In  the  grades,  there  had  al- 
ways been  a  congenial,  home-like  atmosphere  which 
completely  dominated  everything;  but  in  the  high 
school  I  came  face  to  face  with  an  absolutely  differ- 
ent environment,  and  many  a  time  during  my  first 
year's  work  I  wished  I  were  back  in  that  'dear'  old 
grammar  school  which  I  had  learned  to  love  and 
to  respect." 

Another  writes:  "After  having  been  the  im- 
portant 'A'  class  of  the  last  grade  in  grammar 
school  it  seemed  strange  to  find  ourselves  sub- 
merged in  a  larger  group  in  high  school.  One 
especial  difficulty  was  the  getting  accustomed  to 
having  different  teachers  for  every  subject,  the 
getting  acquainted  with  the  teachers  and  the  fear 
that  they  might  not  like  us. 

"I  looked  upon  everything  at  that  time  as  being 
big.  The  teachers  seemed  to  me  as  being  very 
First  impression  no*ed  and  knowing  very  much, 
of  teachers  and  for  these  reasons  I  stood  in 

awe  of  them.  Then,  I  felt  there  was  not  that  close 
relationship  between  pupil  and  teacher  as  there  had 
been  in  the  lower  grades.  If  the  teachers  were  not 
always  kind  and  patient  with  me,  I  grew  to  dislike 


IN    RETROSPECT  129 

them.  Sometimes  I  thought  the  teachers  were  not 
very  religious,  because  they  scolded  when  I  thought 
they  ought  to  be  kind  and  helpful. 

"But  when  I  came  to  my  sophomore  year,  I 
looked  upon  things  differently  and  partly  overcame 
this  feeling  of  awe  and  timidness.  I  had  more  con- 
fidence in  myself  and  no  longer  felt  that  my  high- 
school  mates  were  any  bigger  than  myself.  More- 
over I  realized  that  the  instructors  were  not  so 
distant  after  all,  for  on  several  occasions  both  in 
lessons  and  programs  were  we  thrown  together, 
and  each  time  the  instructors  put  forth  great  effort 
to  show  their  personal  interest  in  us." 

"The  individual  was  a  minus  quantity;  he  was 
completely  submerged.  The  personal  touch  be- 
tween teachers  and  pupils  to  which  I  referred  lasted 
only  during  the  first  year,  and  then  it  completely 
vanished.  The  methods  of  instruction  were,  with 
one  exception,  purely  mechanical,  and  the  teachers 
never  attempted  to  make  the  work  really  practical. 
Interest  in  school,  in  life,  in  activities,  in  everything 
was  far  below  par  and  nothing  was  ever  done  to 
stimulate  the  individual." 

"In  spite  of  the  difficulty  of  adjustment  when 
entering  the  high  school,  I  felt  a  renewed  interest 
in  school  work.  The  increased  field  of  work,  to- 
gether with  the  less  close  supervision,  made  me  feel 
more  independence,  more  responsibility,  in  regard 
to  that  work.  This  may  have  been  due  to  the  at- 
titude of  my  first  high-school  teachers,  which  was 


130  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

one  of  sympathy  and  of  interest  in  the  individual 
rather  than  the  subject." 

Another  says :  "One  thing  which  stands  out  up- 
permost in  my  mind  was  the  lack  of  interest  on 
the  part  of  the  teachers  in  helping  the  pupil  in  se- 
lecting his  course  of  study." 

It  is  not  strange  that  so  many  memories  of  high- 
school  days  center  around  the  relation  of  teacher  to 

Susceptibility  PUPIL     Such  comments  as  these 

to  teacher's  which    follow    are    full    of    SUg- 

personality  gestion.     Probably  at  no  time  of 

life  is  a  person  more  subject  to  the  stimulating  or 
depressing  influence  of  other  personalities  than  in 
high  school.  No  one  can  read  these  paragraphs 
without  feeling  that  the  question  of  efficiency  in 
the  high  school  is  intimately  bound  up  with  the 
personality  of  the  teacher. 

"The  commercial  teacher  was  a  very  small  man, 
but  we  were  afraid  of  him.  Everything  was  silent 
the  minute  he  came  into  the  room.  He  was  inter- 
ested in  his  work  and  was  not  satisfied  if  we  were 
not  doing  excellent  work.  We  had  to  do  it  well 
and  we  worked  hard  for  him.  In  my  sophomore 
year  there  was  a  change  in  instructors.  The  com- 
mercial teacher  was  a  joke,  he  was  a  bluffer,  but 
he  didn't  seem  to  know  that  we  knew  it.  Another 
professor  was  very  indifferent  to  his  work  and  so 
were  we.  He  was  impatient  and  cross.  It  really 
seemed  that  he  was  simply  teaching  for  the  money 
there  was  in  it." 


IN    RETROSPECT  131 

"It  seems  to  me,  as  I  recall  my  freshman  and 
sophomore  years  in  high  school,  that  this  is  the 
period  when  violent  likes  or  dislikes  are  taken  to 
instructors.  I  remember  one  teacher  whom  I  dearly 
loved,  and  I  was  so  afraid  that  she  did  not  like 
me." 

"I  always  did  my  best  work  for  the  teacher  who 
made  me  do  my  work,  for  the  teacher  that  I  was 
afraid  of.  I  would  study  hours  for  some  instruct- 
ors rather  than  be  criticized  or  scolded. 

"I  was  fond  of  our  superintendent.  He  seemed 
to  understand  us;  would  talk  us  out  of  things; 
The  "understand-  would  not  scold  unless  we  needed 
ing  teacher"  ft      He  was  sympathetic  and  in- 

terested in  every  one.  On  the  other  hand,  a  lady 
instructor  was  always  scolding;  was  cross  and  un- 
reasonable. We  got  so  we  would  laugh  at  any- 
thing she  said.  She  treated  us  just  like  primary 
children.  She  was  not  attractive  and  had  very  poor 
taste.  She  wore  a  bright  red  tailored  suit  with  a 
light  blue  hat.  She  also  had  a  knitted  scarf  of  all 
the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  We  called  her  'Old 
Glory'  whenever  she  wore  the  red  and  blue  com- 
bination." 

"It  was  always  the  kind  and  sympathetic  teachers 
for  whom  I  would  tiy  and  work  the  hardest  and 
in  whose  classes  I  did  the  best  work.  More  can 
always  be  accomplished  by  teachers  of  this  sort  than 
by  the  ones  who  seem  to  take  no  interest  in  the 
pupil." 


132  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

"As  I  have  mentioned  before,  there  was  a  cer- 
tain high-school  teacher  whom  I  respected  and 
looked  up  to  as  a  model  of  perfection.  She  made 
me  unconsciously  take  a  greater  interest  in  my  work 
and  helped  me  build  up  ideals  which  I  still  retain." 

"The  influence  of  some  of  these  teachers  will 
have  a  lasting  effect  upon  my  life,  and  I  am  sure 
there  are  many  others  who  will  say  the  same.  I 
well  remember  the  little  woman  who,  for  three 
years,  occupied  the  principal's  chair.  Small  in 
stature  but  mighty  in  moral  principle.  It  was  she 
who  set  the  standard  for  right  doing  and  good  class 
work,  and  refused  to  give  approbation  for  those 
who  remained  below  it." 

"He  was  severe  in  his  requirements,  but  always 
just  and  always  courteous — he  treated  us  like  young 
men  and  young  women.  I  would  go  out  of  my  way 
many  blocks  just  in  order  to  meet  him  and  hear  him 

say,  'How  do  you  do,  Miss .'    I  treasured  in 

my  heart  for  a  long  time  his  last  words  to  me :  T'm 
sure  I  do  not  see  how  you  could  have  done  better 
than  you  have;  I  shall  expect  to  hear  great  things 
of  you.'  I  finished  my  course  in  a  district  school 
almost  without  regret  at  the  change,  because  he 
and  another  favorite  teacher  were  not  coming  back 
the  next  year." 

"During  my  freshman  and  sophomore  years  I 
liked  all  my  teachers  and  was  in  love  with  two  of 
the  young  lady  teachers,  just  out  of  college.  We 
used    to    show    our    devotion    by    bringing    them 


IN    RETROSPECT  133 

flowers,  fruits  and  various  presents  and  hanging 
around  their  rooms  to  talk  with  them.  In  my 
junior  and  senior  years  I  did  not  like  my  teachers 
as  well.  I  got  to  thinking  that  one  of  them  had 
taken  a  dislike  to  me  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  lack 
of  understanding  between  us." 

"It  is  interesting,  also,  to  note  the  opinions  we 
entertained  of  the  various  teachers.  We  did  not 
stop  then  to  consider  why  we  liked  some  and  dis- 
liked others,  but  our  feelings  were  strong  in  some 
cases  and,  of  course,  affected  our  work.  One 
science  teacher  spoiled  his  influence  with  his  second 
year  pupils  by  treating  them  as  'grown-ups.'  He 
started  out  by  addressing  them  as  'Miss'  and  'Mr.' 
He  seldom  knew  our  names  outside  the  class  room. 
His  whole  attitude  was  distant.  At  the  same  time 
there  was  a  mathematics  teacher  who  treated  us  as 
small  children. 

"The  next  superintendent,  however,  appealed  to 
us  differently.  He  seemed  made  of  the  same  ma- 
terial as  we  were,  and  met  all  of  his  pupils  on  an 
equal  basis.  The  rich  and  the  poor  were  alike  with 
him.  I  remember  when  I  enrolled  under  him,  I 
wanted  to  take  some  subjects  over,  as  I  felt  I  had 
not  done  as  well  in  them  as  I  should.  After  look- 
ing up  my  record,  he  turned  to  me  and  advised  me 
not  to  do  so,  saying  that  he  thought  I  could  handle 
the  advanced  work  without  difficulty.  That,  I 
think,  determined  my  career,  for  had  I  been  allowed 
to  take  those  subjects  over,  I  should  never  have 


134  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

finished  the  high  school.  But  through  his  advice 
I  felt  encouraged,  and  he  awakened  a  feeling  in  me 
that  I  could  accomplish  what  I  wanted  to,  provided 
I  tried.  I  had  many  other  teachers,  some  of  them 
teaching  me  more  by  their  actions  than  they  did  by 
their  words." 

"How  we  disliked  him,  feared  him,  disrespected 
him!  Then  there  was  another  who  seemed  to  give 
all  her  thoughts  to  dress.  We  always  admired  her 
clothes,  yet  felt  that  they  were  out  of  place  in  the 
schoolroom.  She  did  not  mix  with  the  common 
teachers  or  pupils,  and  it  was  not  long  before  we 
classified  her  as  a  snob.  .  .  . 

"But  the  pupils  as  well  as  the  teachers  had  traits 
of  both  kinds.  The  majority  of  us  could  have  been 
Influence  of  trusted  anywhere,  but  the  teachers 

teachers  on  pu-  always  made  us  feel  that  they 
pi  s  con  uc  were  watching  us,   and  that  we 

were  not  a  part  of  the  governing  body.  I  think 
perhaps  this  was  the  weakest  point  in  our  school. 
We  whispered  and  played  tricks  whenever  we  could, 
and  felt  as  if  it  were  all  right,  if  we  were  not  caught 
in  the  act.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  would  have  been 
different  had  we  realized  that  all  the  discipline  did 
not  rest  with  the  instructors." 

"My  conduct  in  high  school  seemed  to  be  greatly 
influenced  by  the  teacher  who  happened  at  the  mo- 
ment to  be  in  charge.  One  teacher  was  an  object 
of  particular  dislike.  She  was  extremely  disagree- 
able and  impatient  and  in  all  of  our  tests,  watched 


IN    RETROSPECT  135 

us  with  cat-like  care  in  an  effort  to  detect  cheat- 
ing. Our  chief  aim  was  to  outwit  her  and  we 
never  thought  of  the  dishonor  involved  in  cheat- 
ing, but  merely  felt  delight  in  the  fact  that  we  had 
escaped  the  detection  of  the  despised  instructor.  In 
direct  contrast  to  her,  was  a  teacher  who  acted  as 
though  the  possibility  of  our  being  dishonest  had 
never  occurred  to  him  and  I  remember  but  one 
person  who  was  ever  dishonest  in  his  classes." 

"I  didn't  like  the  teachers  because  they  were  such 
important  beings.  These  teachers  were  from  the 
best  families  of  the  city  and  were  merely  teaching 
for  want  of  something  better  to  do  until  they  were 
married.  They  would  not  speak  to  me,  an  insig- 
nificant, poor  country  boy,  except  in  the  class  room 
and  then  I  was  so  scared  that  many  a  time  I  could 
say  nothing  and  consequently  got  a  zero  for  that 
day's  work.  There  was  a  vacancy  in  the  teaching 
force  after  my  freshman  year  and  a  poor,  but 
beautiful  young  woman  was  called  to  fill  this  va- 
cancy. She  was  the  idol  of  my  heart  because  she 
treated  us  all  alike  and  would  talk  to  and  advise  me 
about  anything  I  wanted  advice  about.  Many  an 
evening  have  I  stayed  to  see  if  I  could  help  her. 
There  was  no  wall  between  her  and  her  pupils.  I 
would  do  anything  for  her.  From  this  time  on,  I 
liked  to  go  to  school." 

"The  discipline  stood  out  strongly  in  that  school. 
The  superintendent  was  one  of  those  born  over- 
seers.    His  only  rule  was  'do  right,'  but  this  was 


136  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL'   AGE 

sufficient  for  him,  for  his  very  gait  and  expression 
demanded  obedience  and  through  it  all  he  ever  had 
the  good  will  and  highest  respect  and  esteem  of 
his  pupils.  I  always  felt  a  strong  liking  for  all  of 
my  instructors  while  in  high  school.  I  had  but  one 
teacher  that  I  did  not  care  for  and  really  disliked. 
She  was  one  of  those  persons  who  never  smiled ; 
who  never  saw  a  funny  side  to  anything.  I  never 
knew  that  teacher  to  laugh  heartily  with  the  class. 
To  be  sure  the  recitation  is  not  to  be  converted  into 
a  laughing  bee,  but  I  believe  there  are  times  when 
a  good  laugh  will  do  more  good  than  anything 
else." 

"The  teacher  who  appealed  most  strongly  to  me 
was  a  quiet,  unassuming  woman  who  always  en- 
Conceptions  of  tered  the  schoolroom  with  a 
the  ideal  teacher  happy  smile  and  a  cheery  'Good 
morning/  She  seemed  glad  to  be  there  and  glad  to 
see  the  children.  She  was  quiet  and  calm  in  all 
her  movements ;  her  voice  was  low  and  pleasant 
and  the  pupils  learned  to  be  quiet  and  attentive  when 
she  spoke.  In  all  her  commands  she  was  kind  yet 
determined.  In  this  way  she  soon  won  the  respect 
and  love  of  all  her  pupils.  She  would  go  to  almost 
any  amount  of  trouble  to  help  a  child  out  of  a  diffi- 
culty. Her  explanations  were  clear  and  concise. 
She  knew  how  to  make  herself  understood.  More 
than  all,  she  was  absolutely  impartial,  and  this  con- 
tributed much  toward  making  her  a  real  friend  and 
companion  of  each  child. 


IN    RETROSPECT  137 

"A  teacher  who  did  not  appeal  to  me  was  an 
irritable,  quick-tempered  woman.  She  moved  nerv- 
ously about  the  room  and  had  a  loud  shrill  voice. 
She  could  be  heard  distinctly  some  distance  from 
the  room.  In  her  presence  the  children  moved 
about  carelessly  and  noisily ;  their  voices  were  often 
loud  and  harsh.  She  seldom  smiled  and  never,  I 
think,  greeted  the  children  as  they  came  in  the 
morning.  She  acted  as  if  she  were  troubled  and 
irritated  by  the  children.  She  was  continually  nag- 
ging them  and  often  punished  them  for  slight  of- 
fenses. She  was  very  partial  to  some  of  her  pupils 
and  ignored  others  who  were  not  especially  forward 
in  their  manner.  She  never  troubled  herself  to  help 
a  pupil  over  a  hard  point.  He  must  either  get  the 
help  of  an  older  pupil  or  go  on  with  his  difficulty 
unsolved." 

"My  best  teacher  was  always  fair  and  just,  both 
in  regard  to  our  work  in  class  and  our  conduct  in 
assembly  room.  She  was  kind  when  we  tried  and 
made  mistakes  and  never  discouraged  us  by  sar- 
casm (a  fault  very  common  to  teachers,  I  think)  ; 
she  was  always  tastefully  dressed  both  in  school 
and  for  outside  affairs.  All  of  these  characteristics 
along  with  her  ever-readiness  to  help  and  encourage 
in  everything  that  concerned  us  made  her  a  sort  of 
model  for  all  of  us.  We  used  to  say,  'When  I  grow 
up,  I  am  going  to  be  just  like  Miss  L.'  " 

"The  high-school  teacher  who  stands  out  most 
prominently  in  my  mind  is  not  the  one  who  taught 


138  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

with  the  greatest  success  nor  the  one  who  seemed  to 
have  the  best  education;  but  rather  the  one  who 
gave  us  all  she  had  of  sympathy  and  interest.  Her 
subject  was  English,  but  she  taught  us  more  of 
humanity  than  of  language  forms.  There  was  a 
depth  and  breadth  about  her  that  went  far  toward 
giving  the  boys  an  interest  in  school  life." 

"The  teacher  who  appealed  to  me  most  was  very 
thorough  in  her  work.  She  had  a  quiet  and  pleas-1 
ing  way  about  her.  She  was  firm  in  discipline  and 
respected  by  all  the  pupils,  but  at  the  same  time  her 
bearing  was  not  unduly  forward.  Her  attitude 
toward  her  class  was  very  cordial  and  sympathetic 
and  it  brought  forth  the  very  best  efforts  from  the 
pupils.  She  had  a  remarkably  even  temper  and 
very  seldom  seemed  irritated  or  cross.  Outside  of 
the  schoolroom  she  was  able  to  come  down  to  the 
level  of  the  pupils  and  become  one  of  them  without 
their  taking  any  advantage  of  her.  She  was  jolly 
and  sympathetic  and  took  a  personal  interest  in  all 
of  us  and,  above  all,  she  was  a  woman  of  high 
ideals." 

"The  teacher  of  my  high-school  days  who  ap- 
pealed to  me  most  was  the  principal,  under  whom 
I  worked  the  entire  four  years.  The  quality  that 
impressed  me  most  was  his  ability  to  maintain  dis- 
cipline. The  school  was  not  an  easy  one  to  handle 
and  yet  he  always  had  good  order,  not  merely  in 
his  own  classes  but  throughout  the  whole  school. 
To  maintain  such  order  he  did  not  rely  on  a  system 


IN    RETROSPECT  139 

of  petty  and  irritating  rules  and  precepts,  but  al- 
lowed to  the  pupils  every  advantage  and  liberty 
possible. 

"This  principal  also  impressed  me  with  his  power 
as  a  teacher.  He  taught  me  history  and  mathe- 
matics and  in  such  a  way  that  I  still  take  a  great 
interest  in  both  subjects.  He  understood  his  work 
and  left  a  clear  and  definite  idea  of  what  he  taught 
in  the  pupils'  minds." 

The  reader  will  remember  that  the  above  para- 
graphs are  furnished  by  students  who  have  been 

TT.  ,      .     .  out  of  high  school  three  or  four 

High-school  pu-  mi 

pils' conceptions  years.  It  will  be  interesting  to 
of  a  good  teacher  compare  these  estimates  of  teach- 
ers with  some  made  by  pupils  who  are  yet  in  high 
school.  About  four  hundred  pupils  in  a  single  city 
high  school  were  recently  asked  by  their  English 
teachers  to  write  brief  descriptions  of  their  ideal 
of  a  high-school  teacher.  From  such  quotations 
as  follow,  and  they  are  entirely  typical,  it  is  quite 
clear  that  pupils  are  interested  in  their  teachers 
while  they  are  working  under  them,  that  the  anal- 
yses of  effective  teachers,  given  on  the  preceding 
pages,  are  not  afterthoughts  of  more  mature  years 
but  are  quite  genuine  presentations  of  views  held 
by  pupils  actually  in  high  school. 

"I  have  just  had  a  teacher  who  is,  I  believe,  the 
best  that  can  be  found  anywhere.  When  outside  of 
school  she  did  not  act  as  if  she  were  far  above 
the  pupils,  but  mingled  with  them  as  if  she  were 


fi40  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

» 

!  one  of  them.  I  think  it  was  on  account  of  this 
that  she  had  such  good  control  over  her  pupils.  In 
her  study  periods  she  very  seldom  spoke  a  word 
and  yet  things  were  so  quiet  that  you  could  hear 
a  pin  drop,  while  the  teacher  in  charge  just  before 
her  would  walk  up  and  down  the  room  or  shout 
at  us  and  just  the  minute  his  back  was  turned,  bang! 
would  go  an  eraser  against  the  wall.  In  all  my 
two  years'  work  under  her,  I  never  once  saw  her 
lose  her  temper.  If  she  asked  a  pupil  a  question 
and  he  did  not  answer  rightly,  she  did  not  'snap' 
him  off  quickly  and  call  on  some  one  else  but  talked 
to  him  and  tried  to  find  out  on  what  grounds  he 
based  his  answer."     (Boy) 

"A  successful  high-school  teacher  must  have  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject  and  a  genuine 
understanding  of  his  pupils.  Of  course  the  char- 
acter and  personal  appearance  of  the  teacher  have 
much  to  do  with  his  effectiveness.  He  should  be 
good-natured,  patient  and  earnest  in  his  attitude 
before  his  class.  His  efforts  will  be  materially 
aided  by  a  well-kept  personal  appearance  and  by  a 
pleasant  and  cheerful  countenance.  He  must,  in 
addition  to  the  good  qualities  common  to  most  peo- 
ple, possess  good  morals  and  good  habits  and  finally 
he  must  have  peculiar  skill  in  presenting  his  subject 
in  an  interesting  way  before  his  classes."     (Boy) 

"My  ideal  high-school  teacher  is  one  who  treats 
all  the  pupils  alike ;  who  explains  clearly  all  that  is 
not  understood  by  the  class.     If  a  student  comes 


IN    RETROSPECT  141 

to  class  without  his  lesson,  he  should  be  kind  and 
yet  stern  without  getting  angry.  The  pupil  will 
then  try  harder  next  time."     (Boy) 

"My  ideal  teacher  is  a  young  lady  of  very  cheer- 
ful disposition  and  quite  nice  looking.  She  is  strict 
and  yet  not  cross,  and  does  not  always  wear  a 
frown  or  look  as  though  she  were  mourning  over 
somebody.  If  a  pupil  makes  a  mistake,  she  will 
not  'bawl  him  out'  like  most  teachers,  but  will  tell 
him  after  class  he  will  have  to  study  harder.  She 
is  not  the  least  bit  sarcastic,  and  has  a  very  good 
sense  of  humor.  If  something  funny  happens  to 
be  said,  she  will  laugh.  None  of  her  children  will 
ever  accuse  her  of  being  partial  or  of  having  favor- 
ites."    (Boy)1 

"An  ideal  high-school  teacher  should  have  a 
natural  aptitude  for  making  the  pupils  understand 
the  subject  taught  and  she  should  not  talk  over 
their  heads.  Nor  should  she  do  all  the  talking.  The 
pupils  should  like  to  come  to  her  room.  She  should 
be  firm  as  well  as  pleasant  and  should  expect  the 
pupils  to  do  what  they  are  told  to  do.  She  should 
not  lose  her  temper,  for  by  doing  so  she  loses  the 
respect  of  the  pupils.  When  she  reproves  a  pupil, 
she  should  be  sure  she  is  reproving  the  right  person 
for  the  right  thing." 

"The  ideal  teachers,  as  a  usual  thing,  are  not  very 
plentiful,  for  teachers  are  not  made  to  order.  If 
it  were  only  possible  to  have  one  who  disbelieved 
in  sarcasm  and  who  would  encourage  instead  of  dis- 


142  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

courage  the  students!  The  average  boy  or  girl  is 
afraid  of  a  teacher  who  corrects  every  slightest 
mistake  with  a  sarcastic  remark.  If  such  a  teacher 
only  knew  how  little  good  this  does  and  the  kind 
of  a  reputation  she  is  making  for  herself,  she  would 
try  a  new  method."     (Boy) 

"Some  teachers,  when  they  call  upon  you,  act 
as  though  they  were  daring  you  to  make  a  mistake, 
and  glare  at  you  until  you  forget  the  answer,  even 
if  you  knew  it  at  first.  Other  teachers  look  at  you 
as  though  they  expected  you  to  recite.  This  makes 
you  feel  like  attempting  it."     (Girl) 

"No  teacher  should  show  partiality  toward  any 
pupil."     (Girl) 

"My  ideal  of  a  high-school  teacher  is  one  whose 
very  soul  is  in  her  work  and  yet  who  does  not  ap- 
pear all-absorbed  by  her  teaching;  a  teacher  who 
comes  to  the  class  room  free  from  that  overbearing 
manner  sometimes  assumed  ex  officio;  a  teacher 
who  laughs  and  laughs  as  though  she  means  it." 
(Girl)    ' 

"Perhaps  I  demand  too  much  of  my  ideal,  but 
I  have  already  known  several  teachers  who  have 
very  nearly  come  up  to  it.  I  have  especially  in 
mind  my  language  teacher;  she  is  of  the  patient 
jolly  type  whom  everybody  likes.  She  is  never 
cross,  although  the  'shirks'  learn  to  fear  the  time 
when  they  answer,  T  don't  know.'  Some  of  the 
most  uncomfortable  moments  of  my  life  have  been 
spent  after  I  have  'flunked'  in  her  class,  my  guilty 


IN    RETROSPECT  [43 

conscience  aroused  by  her  gentle  rebuke.  In  gen- 
eral, I  like  her  because  of  her  patience,  her  ready 
sense  of  humor  and  her  continual  holding  up  of 
an  authority  to  which  we  are  willing  to  submit." 
(Girl) 

"I  think  a  teacher  should  be  patient  and  answer 
questions  asked  by  students  in  a  pleasant  way,  in- 
stead of  saying,  'Well!  if  you  can't  see  an  easy 
thing  like  that,  I  won't  tell  you.'  "     (Girl) 

"Probably  the  position  of  high-school  teachers 
is  a  trying  one  and  the  pupils  may  misunderstand 
them  at  times  when  they  are  very  tired  or  have  had 
a  difficult  time  with  some  one  who  does  not  seem 
to  care  to  learn." 

The  various  characteristics  of  a  good  teacher 
which  are  mentioned  by  these  pupils  were  summa- 
rized as  follows: 

Characteristics  as  a  teacher  Numb£r  mentioning 

Boys  Girls 

Well-educated    38  26 

Experienced    13  7 

Prepared  "on  lessons 21  16 

Progressive  11  3 

Ability  to  teach Boys  26,  Girls  26  \  e,-  » 

Ability  to  explain Boys  30,  Girls  32  J  00 

Good  leadership   IS  21 

Not  too  strict,  especially  before  and  after  class.  21  26 

Strict    32  48 

Fair  in  marking 24  38 

Calls  upon  all  pupils 11  10 

Gives  pupils  time  to  recite 3  9 

Makes  lessons  interesting 20  46 

Just    25  18 

Impartial    42  76 

Does  not  "bawl  pupils  out" 11  14 

Puts  pupils  on  honor 6 

Not  too  manv  examinations 7  4 

Short  or  reasonable  assignments 10  10 


144  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

Characteristics  as  a  teacher  Num^£^ti  ©31 

The  teacher's  attitude  toward  the  pupils 

Kind,  courteous 36  39 

Helpful,  especially  to  slow  pupils 

Boys  26,  Girls  35  )      v*  en 

Encourages  the  failing Boys  11,  Girls  15  ) 

Sympathetic  and  "understanding" 

Boys  19,  Girls  32 
Takes  an  interest  in  pupils.  .Boys  12,  Girls 20  (        a?  jq 

Friendly  with  pupils  outside  of  class 

Boys  11,  Girls  23 
Patient  Boys   3,  Girls   3 

Personal  qualities  of  the  good  teacher 

Physically  well   8  2 

Dignified   10  14 

Well-poised,  not  easily  excited 21  27 

Dressed  neatly  and  becomingly 13  27 

Enjoys   fun    Boys  19,  Girls  32  \  oq  03 

Pleasant  in  class Boys  20,  Girls  61   J 

Refined  5  4 

Sincere  9  4 

Pretty  6  5 

Young 17  7 

The  teacher's  lot  a  trying  one 3  9 

It  is  evident  that  high-school  pupils  have  some 
pretty  definite  ideals  as  to  what  their  teachers  should 
Fine  points  well-  be  like.  They  clearly  appreciate 
appreciated  many  of  the  fine  points  of  the 

good  teacher,  possibly  far  more  than  their  teachers 
give  them  credit  for  doing.  It  should  be  an  in- 
spiration to  the  earnest  teacher  to  know  how  highly 
certain  qualities  are  regarded,  such  as  kindly  sym- 
pathy, appreciation  of  the  pupil's  point  of  view, 
"square  dealing,"  ability  to  teach  and  to  make  points 
clear,  sense  of  humor  and  so  forth.  One  has  a  feel- 
ing in  reading  such  papers  that  in  many  cases  the 
ideal  quality  is  present  jn  the  pupil's  mind  only  by 


IN    RETROSPECT  145 

suggestion  from  the  opposite  quality  which  he  sees 
most  frequently  in  actual  school  life.  This  is  espe- 
cially the  case  when  it  comes  to  mentioning  "sense 
of  humor"  as  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  suc- 
cessful teacher. 

Both  the  reminiscences  and  the  words  quoted 
from  present  high-school  pupils  confirm  statements 
made  in  earlier  chapters  as  to  the  extreme  sensi- 
tiveness of  adolescents  to  the  influence  of  older 
people  about  them.  They  respond  to  those  who 
show  a  personal  interest  in  them,  provided  this  in- 
terest is  shown  in  a  dignified  and  genuine  fashion. 
They  dislike  teachers  who  hold  aloof,  teachers  with 
mannerisms,  teachers  who  assume  attitudes,  and 
who  lack  poise  and  patience. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  comments  that  are 
suggested  by  this  material.  Every  teacher  or  pros- 
pective teacher  will  find  here  many  suggestions  for 
better  adapting  himself  to  the  needs  of  these  sen- 
sitive and  idealistic  years. 

That   the   high-school   years   are   an   important 

transition  period  almost  all  these  students  admit, 

„,       .  .  although  with  some  the  changes 

Transition  years  ,  , 

were  so  gradual  that  they  were 

quite  unnoticed.  Thus:  "My  high-school  years 
were  not  marked  by  any  'storm  and  stress/  but  by 
a  pleasant,  profitable,  gradual  growth." 

"I  had  no  sudden  changes  in  emotional,  in  in- 
tellectual or  social  attitudes  and  my  hopes  and  as- 
pirations were  those  of  the  ordinary  girl." 


146  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

"I  can  not  recall  any  changes  of  attitude  which 
took  place  during  my  high-school  career.  I  had 
a  moderate  interest  in  social  affairs,  for  I  enjoyed 
dancing  and  going  to  parties,  but  I  was  also  ex- 
tremely fond  of  my  home." 

"The  childish  desires  were  put  aside  and  I  was 
compelled  to  think  and  act  as  a  woman.  The  dolls 
were  banished  along  with  the  other  playthings,  and, 
worst  of  all,  the  younger  playmates.  Under  these 
circumstances  there  was  a  decided  change  in  my 
temperament.  As  a  little  girl  I  was  happy  and 
care-free  and  had  a  sunny  disposition  (if  such  a 
term  is  permissible)',  always  looking  on  the  bright 
side  of  things. 

"The  'New  Life/  as  Daniels  terms  this  transition 
period,  brought  care,  responsibility  and  unhappi- 
ness  to  me.  I  became  morbid  and  felt  that  no  one 
quite  understood  me.  Then  came  the  idea  of  the 
dual  personality.  After  seeing  Doctor  Jekyll  and 
Mr.  Hyde  on  the  stage,  I  decided  the  easiest  way 
to  get  along  in  the  world  would  be  to  let  the  people 
who  insisted  on  misunderstanding  my  ideas  and 
actions  do  so  and  I  would  keep  'the  other  self  to 
myself.  The  result  was  almost  disastrous  to  my 
friendships.  To  all  appearances  I  was  cold  and 
indifferent  to  other  people  and  their  affairs  and  be- 
came very  self-centered.  My  mother  and  I  grew 
farther  and  farther  apart  as  I  confided  less  in  her. 
If  I  was  misjudged,  I  would  let  such  judgment 


IN    RETROSPECT  147 

stand  and  inwardly  played  the  part  of  a  martyr. 
However,  I  had  very  high,  unattainable  ideals.  My 
ambition  was  to  be  very  kind  to  other  people,  a 
philanthropic  sort  of  an  individual  always  doing 
things  in  a  quiet,  unassuming  way.  These  ideals 
were  aided  by  one  of  my  high-school  teachers.  I 
was  decidedly  introspective,  I  had  a  firm  belief  that 
no  one  had  as  serious  thoughts  as  I  concerning  the 
problem  of  life.  .  .  .  After  this  emotional  ex- 
perience I  became  more  morbid  than  ever  and  more 
serious  too.  Eliot's  description  of  Maggie  Tulliver 
more  nearly  expresses  my  feelings  than  anything 
that  I  have  seen  written.  'There  was  a  hopeless 
yearning  for  that  something,  whatever  it  might  be, 
that  was  the  greatest  and  best  on  earth.' 

"I  had  my  serious  thoughts  in  regard  to  the  fu- 
ture. Much  time  was  spent  in  day-dreams.  I 
realized  that  there  was  a  lack  of  adjustment  some- 
where and  I  longed  for  the  time  to  come  when  I 
should  be  righted.  Within  the  last  year  I  have 
gradually  acquired  my  childish  attitude,  which  was 
optimistic.  I  can  not  explain  how  or  why  for  sure, 
but  I  believe  that  it  is  in  part  the  result  of  two 
friendships,  one  that  of  a  woman,  the  other  of  a 
man. 

"I  think  now  that  my  experiences  in  the  adoles- 
cent period  are  similar  to  those  of  others,  while  at 
the  time  I  was  experiencing  them,  I  was  very  certain 
no  one  else  had  ever  felt  so.     I  do  believe,  though, 


148  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

that  I  was  forced  to  take  a  'grown-up'  attitude 
toward  life  when  a  mere  child  and  that,  in  part, 
caused  the  morbidness  and  too  serious  thinking." 

"I  became  more  particular  in  my  dress  and  sen- 
sitive in  the  manner  people  spoke  to  and  of  me. 
When  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  grades  I  would  do 
mostly  anything  the  teacher  asked  me  to  do  with- 
out questioning  and  saying  anything  about  it;  but 
later  I  became  more  independent." 

"It  was  in  my  sophomore  year  that  I  first  began 
to  form  any  ideals  and  to  plan  for  the  future.  I 
j ,    .  had  always  liked  Latin  and  this 

year  I  had  an  excellent  Latin 
teacher.  I  had  always  intended  to  go  to  Iowa,  but 
up  to  this  time  it  was  merely  a  matter  of  saying 
'Yes,  I  am  going  to  college.'  But  now  I  began  to 
look  at  things  differently.  My  greatest  ambition 
was  to  major  in  Latin  and  become  a  teacher  like 
Miss  K." 

"I  indulged  in  day-dreams  quite  as  much  as  any 
one  that  our  authors  have  described.  I  idealized 
Dreams  o£  myself,  my  friends,  my  surround- 

greatness  ings,  and  made  them  over  to  suit 

my  fancy.  My  favorite  theme  for  day-dreaming 
was  to  picture  myself  a  star  in  public  performances, 
when  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  role  was  entirely  out 
of  my  line  of  accomplishments.  It  was  during  my 
sophomore  year  that  my  attitude  toward  boys 
changed  in  a  marked  way.  I  became  shy  and  re- 
strained in  the  company  of  the  neighbor  boy  with 


IN    RETROSPECT  149 

whom  I  had  grown  up.  He  turned  into  a  'Prince 
Charming'  before  my  very  eyes.  I  imagined 
myself  in  love  with  him.  I  passed  through  a  period 
of  religious  and  spiritual  budding-out,  too,  I  am 
sure.  In  the  grades  I  never  knew  why  I  went  to 
Sunday  school,  and  I  never  went  to  church  at  all 
then.  But  in  the  second  year  of  the  high  school  I 
began  to  think  seriously  about  the  welfare  of  my 
soul.  I  read  the  Bible  through  from  cover  to  cover, 
not  because  it  interested  me  immensely,  but  because 
I  thought  it  was  the  thing  to  do." 

"I  developed  a  different  attitude  toward  boys 
because  of  this  new  association  with  them.  Pre- 
law attitude  viously l  had  Pla>red  with  them 
toward  the               as  with  my  girl  friends  and  had 

looked  upon  them  in  the  same 
light.  Now,  I  endeavored  to  look  my  best  in  their 
company  and  I  also  felt  a  certain  constraint  around 
them  and  became  more  careful  of  my  conduct.  In 
various  boys  at  various  times,  I  felt  a  distinct  in- 
terest, but  I  do  not  think  that  there  was  an  element 
of  affection  in  my  attitude." 

"My  girl  friends  interested  me  most,  and  al- 
though I  did  not  have  many,  those  I  did  have  were 
very  intimate,  and  we  enjoyed  being  with  each 
other  more  than  anything  else." 

"In  my  junior  year  we  had  a  great  many  class 
parties  and  I  first  began  to  take  an  interest  in  boys. 
Before  this  I  had  not  cared  to  be  with  them  and 
thought  that  they  always  spoiled  things." 


150  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

"I  much  preferred  boys  for  playmates ;  girls  with 
their  dolls  and  playhouses  seemed  altogether  too 
poky  for  me.  My  first  month  in  high  school  brought 
about  a  sudden  change  in  me.  I  began  to  feel  a 
sort  of  embarrassment  around  my  old  playmates 
and  took  great  pains  with  my  personal  appearance ; 
most  of  all  with  my  hair  which  hitherto  had  been 
an  unknown  care  to  me.  My  boisterous  habits  of 
the  previous  summer  'grated  on  my  nerves,'  as  it 
were,  and  I  strove  earnestly  to  replace  them  with 
the  refined  and  pleasant  manners  of  a  teacher  for 
whom  I  cared  a  great  deal.  My  efforts  to  be  a  lady 
called  forth  many  jeering,  teasing  remarks  from 
my  younger  friends  who  had  not  yet  come  to  realize 
'the  heavy  burden  of  life'  as  I  had,  and  they  made 
much  fun  of  me  because  I  refused  to  chew  gum 
in  school. 

"The  element  of  affection  for  the  opposite  sex 
entered  into  my  nature  about  this  time  and  cul- 
minated in  my  first  'case'  some  two  months  long 
in  my  high-school  course.  Under  the  very  careful 
guidance  of  my  mother  this  friendship  brought  out 
more  womanly  qualities  in  me  than  any  other  affair 
in  my  whole  life." 

"I  liked  studies  in  which  I  could  'think  things 

out'  and  could  see  little  value  in  simply  memorizing 

Liked  to  "think         things.     I  always  did  just  enough 
things  out"  work   in  the   studjes  that   J  dis. 

liked  so  that  it  would  not  bring  down  my  average 
grades  too  much." 


IN    RETROSPFXT  151 

The  impulse  to  participate  in  the  larger  life  out- 
side the  school  and  the  attendant  uncertainty  as  to 
how  to  adjust  one's  self  tokjs  Afeff  ^^ in  many 
of  the  papers  collected.  Yn£  gjjpwing  are  char- 
acteristic statements  r^A 

'The  last  few  years  in  high  school  were  char- 
acterized by  a  marked  impatience  to  be  out  and 
Impatience  with  earning  my  own  living.  I  had 
school  restrictions  alwavs  planned  to  teach  and  had 
mapped  out  a  very  brilliant  career.  Beginning  in 
the  country  schools,  I  should  rise  by  my  own  per- 
sonal effort.  Occasionally  the  teaching  profession 
would  lose  all  its  interest.  In  imagination  I  be- 
came at  those  times  a  very  great  singer,  a  social 
settlement  worker,  a  nurse  or  a  writer.  I  felt  sure 
I  could  be  successful  in  any  of  these  callings,  even 
though  I  had  shown  no  talent  along  such  lines.  At 
times,  I  felt  myself  to  be  a  most  misunderstood 
person.  For  a  year  or  more  I  had  frequent  attacks 
of  the  'blues.'  At  these  times  I  would  cry,  for 
what  reason  I  could  not  say.  I  only  knew  I  felt 
miserable  and  no  one  seemed  to  care." 

"As  far  as  having  any  vocational  interests,  I  must 
say  that  I  really  did  not  have  any  until  my  last 
Vocational  year    in    school.      I    had    never 

interests  looked  forward  beyond  my  school 

life.  It  came  to  me  in  a  strange  manner  that  the 
one  who  succeeded  best  was  the  one  who  had  an 
aim  in  life.  It  happened,  in  the  latter  part  of  my 
senior  year,  that  one  of  the  girls  gave  a  party  to 


152  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

our  class.  During  the  course  of  the  evening  the 
conversation  came  up  as  to  what  all  the  girls  in- 
tended to  do  now  that  they  were  soon  to  graduate. 
Most  of  them  were  able  to  tell  something;  some 
wanted  to  fit  themselves  for  teachers ;  others  to  do 
charity  work.  For  the  first  time  it  then  occurred  to 
me  that  /  should  have  an  aim  in  life,  other  than 
merely  going  to  school.  From  this  time,  I  began 
to  think  and  observe  others,  and  finally  concluded 
that  the  people  who  were  interested  in  some  special 
way  were  the  ones  who  were  really  happy  or  doing 
much  good." 

"When  I  entered  high  school,  I  expected  to  be  a 
teacher  at  some  time.     During  my  second  year  I 

,_.    .  ,        attended    a    mission    convention 

Missionary  zeal  ...  , 

which  so  aroused  my  interest  in 

missions,  and  my  sympathy  for  my  unfortunate 
fellow  men  in  heathen  lands,  that  I  resolved  to 
go  to  India  as  soon  as  I  should  be  prepared  for 
the  work  of  a  missionary.  The  conviction  was  a 
deep  one.  I  regarded  it  with  such  awe  that  I  never 
talked  of  it  with  any  one  save  my  nearest  and  best 
friends." 

The  following  words  of  one  student  express 
clearly  what  many  suggest  as  to  the  meaning  of 
their  high-school  days : 

"In  such  an  atmosphere  as  I  have  described  I 
lived  my  high-school  days.  I  have  forgotten  New- 
Chief  value  of  ton's  Law;  I  have  forgotten 
high  school  Chaucer's  Prologue,  but  I  never 


IN    RETROSPECT  153 

shall  lose  one  thing,  and  that  is  the  broad  attitude 
toward  life  which  I  gained  in  high  school.  It  is 
all  very  well  to  emphasize  the  utilitarian  value  of 
a  high-school  education  in  these  days  of  material- 
ism, but  after  all  this  value,  I  believe,  is  largely 
mythical.  What  I  want  to  emphasize  in  this  paper 
is  the  large  vision  and  the  grip  on  life  that  I  gained 
then." 

With  this  we  shall  bring  our  chapter  to  a  close. 
Many  phases  of  life  in  the  high  school  have  not 
been  touched  on ;  but  to  give  a  sample  of  everything 
would  be  scarcely  possible  within  the  limits  of  this 
book. 

Whether  these  reminiscences  of  high-school  ex- 
periences are  typical  or  not,  those  who  know  real 
boys  and  girls  will  have  to  judge  for  themselves. 

Reference  for  further  reading  and  study: 

Book,  W.  R,  The  High-School  Teacher  From  the 
Pupils'  Point  of  View,  Pedagogical  Semi- 
nary, 12:239. 


CHAPTER  X 

ECONOMIC  RELATIONS  AND  SOCIAL  INTERESTS  OF 
HIGH-SCHOOL    PUPILS 

THUS  far,  our  attention  has  been  confined  to 
the  mental  and  physical  characteristics  of 
adolescence  in  general  and  of  the  high-school  pupil 
What  are  the  char-  in  Particular.  We  turn  in  this 
acteristks  of  high-    and  the  following  chapters  to  a 

school  students?  .c       .     ■,         e  ,i  -  i 

more  specific  study  of  the  social 
relationships  and  habits  of  the  high-school  pupil. 
The  general  question  before  us  is,  what  can  be  said 
of  the  character  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  attend 
the  American  high  school  ?  Do  they  form  a  specific 
class  which  can  be  described  in  any  particular  or 
definite  way?  From  what  economic  and  social 
strata  of  the  American  public  do  they  come?  At 
what  ages  do  they  enter?  What  are  their  voca- 
tional interests,  if  any?  What  is  their  estimate  of 
the  value  of  a  high-school  course  as  measured  by 
their  intentions  of  finishing  and  by  their  conceptions 
of  its  relation  to  their  life-work?  In  which  studies 
are  they  most  interested,  least  interested,  and  in 
which  do  most  failures  occur?  How  much  time  do 
they  study  outside  of  school  hours;  to  what  extent 

154 


ECONOMIC    RELATIONS  155 

do  they  work  at  home?  Do  they  have  opportunity 
to  earn  money  outside ;  and  in  what  ways  do  they 
earn  money?  How  many  evenings  per  week  do 
they  spend  at  home  and  how  many  parties,  moving- 
picture  shows  and  theaters  do  they  attend  per 
month?  Answers  to  these  questions  would  throw 
some  light  on  the  general  character  of  the  high- 
school  population,  which  might  be  of  much  practical 
value  to  both  teachers  and  parents. 

There  is  already  in  existence  a  considerable  body 
of  data  on  various  points  such  as  have  been  men- 
tioned above.  Studies  of  particular  groups  of  high- 
school  children  have  been  made  and  are  being  made 
which  enable  us  to  answer,  in  part  at  least,  many 
of  these  questions.  These  studies  have  not,  of 
course,  been  carried  far  enough  to  warrant  our  say- 
ing that  the  conclusions  hold  good  for  the  entire 
country,  but  they  show  how  information  can  be 
collected  and  the  conclusions  are  certainly  repre- 
sentative of  large  sections  of  the  high-school  popu- 
lation. 

First  of  all,  what  economic  and  social  strata  of 
the  American  people  send  their  children  to  the  pub- 
lic high  schools?    The  enormous 
From  what  eco-  °    .        .  , 

nomic  and  social       growth  in  high-school  attendance 

strata?  during  the  last  two  decades  sug- 

gests that  the  children  can  hardly  be  said  to 
be  any  longer  a  selected  group  with  interests 
and  aptitudes  which  are  much  alike.  Twenty 
years  ago  the   children   who   came   into  the  high 


156  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

schools  were  probably  such  as  had  a  particular 
interest  in  the  more  intellectual  types  of  train- 
ing. Many  of  them  were  looking  toward  col- 
lege or  higher  professional  courses  when  they  had 
finished  high  school.  They  were,  on  the  whole, 
children  of  American  parentage,  and  from  homes 
which  appreciated  the  value  of  the  somewhat  nar- 
row nineteenth-century  type  of  mental  training. 

But   the   public   high-school   population   has   in- 
creased  in  these  twenty  years   from  254,000   to 

I,I0S,00O   (1892-IQI2).     In  con- 
Great  expansion  .  .  . 
of  high-school          nection  with  this  increase  in  at- 

population  tendance,  the  course  of  study  has 

been  much  expanded.  The  high  school  is  now  often 
called  the  "People's  College."  The  air  is  full  of 
arguments  that  it  should  afford  practical  training. 
The  influx  of  such  large  numbers  of  children  of 
every  race  and  condition  of  life  has  lent  much 
weight  to  the  demand  that  the  high  school  should 
adapt  itself  to  the  great  variety  of  needs  represented 
and,  as  far  as  possible,  train  each  child  according 
to  his  particular  bent,  and  somewhat  definitely  for 
his  particular  life-work.  This,  we  say,  is  a  perfectly 
natural  consequence  of  the  present  situation  when 
the  high  schools  are  supported  by  the  people  as  a 
whole,  rather  than  by  some  special  class  of  people 
among  whom  intellectual  interests  possibly  pre- 
dominate. 

Van  Denburg  recently  studied  the  racial,  social 
and  economic  character  of  the  homes  of  one  thou- 


ECONOMIC    RELATIONS  157 

Racial  stocks  in         Sand  bo>'S  amI  Sirls  wh°  entere(1 
the  New  York  the   high   schools   of    New   York- 

City  at  a  given  time.  (1)  He 
found  most  of  the  racial  stocks  in  New  York, 
twenty-three  in  all,  represented  in  this  group  of 
children.  Children  of  American  parentage  were 
present  to  the  number  of  four  hundred  forty-six; 
the  girls  exceeding  the  boys  almost  two  to  one. 
The  Hebrew  races,  on  the  other  hand,  were  found 
to  send  more  boys  than  girls;  the  ratio  being  about 
five  to  four.  The  Italians  were  also  represented 
by  more  boys  than  girls,  in  the  ratio  of  three  to 
two. 

Taking  into  account  the  percentages  of  different 
races  in  the  city  as  a  whole  and  the  percentage 
of  each  race  represented  in  this  high-school  group, 
the  Irish  were  found  to  be  most  poorly  represented ; 
next  above  them  were  the  Italians;  the  Hebrews 
were  highest  of  all  in  proportion  to  their  numbers 
in  the  city.  Van  Denburg  concludes  that  this  lat- 
ter race  far  exceeds  all  others,  even  the  native  born 
Americans,  "in  their  appreciation  and  use  of  the 
New  York  high  schools." 

The  rentals  paid  by  the  homes  from  which  this 

group  of  one  thousand  children  came  showed  to 

some  extent  the  economic  status 
Economic  status  .    ,  ,_,  , 

of  the  parents.    Ihe  rentals  were 

determined  for  only  four  hundred  twenty  of  the 

group,  but,  of  this  number,  one  hundred  fifty-four 

came  from  homes  paying  only  fifteen  dollars  per 


158  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL'   AGE 

month,  and  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  were  from 
homes  paying  from  ten  to  twenty  dollars  per  month. 
These  figures  indicate  that  the  bulk  of  the  homes 
represented  were  quite  below  the  level  of  comfort- 
able circumstances;  for  even  twenty  dollars  per 
month  will  provide  in  New  York  City  only  a 
meagerly  equipped  apartment. 

The  fathers'  employments  showed  to  some  ex- 
tent the  social  condition  of  these  high-school  pupils. 
Social  conditions  ft  was  found  that,  considering 
represented  ^he  proportion  of  men  in  the  city 

engaged  in  various  vocations,  the  federal  and  city\ 
employees  patronize  the  high  schools  in  largest 
numbers;  next  come  the  parents  engaged  in  the 
printing  trades;  third  in  the  list  are  those  classed 
as  professional  and  semi-professional;  fourth  are 
the  office  workers  and  agents;  fifth  are  the  artisan- 
contractors  and  manufacturers  and  tradesmen.  This 
latter  group  sends  to  the  high  school  nearly  half 
of  all  the  children  who  attend,  but  they  rank  fifth 
in  their  use  of  the  schools  because  of  the  large 
number  of  this  class  in  the  city.  These  conditions, 
discovered  for  New  York  City,  may  for  the  present 
be  assumed  to  furnish  a  fair  indication  of  the  sit- 
uation in  many  other  very  large  centers  of  popula- 
tion, west  as  well  as  east.  There  is  no  doubt  but 
that  all  nationalities  patronize  the  American  high 
school.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  the  medium- 
sized  high  schools  of  the  smaller  western  cities  chil- 
dren are  more  largely  in  attendance  from  all  eco- 


ECONOMIC    RELATIONS  159 

nomic  levels  rather  than  so  largely  from  the  poorer 
ones  as  was  found  to  be  the  case  in  New  York. 

With  reference  to  types  of  vocations  represented 
in  the  Middle  West  a  study  was  recently  made  by 
Comparison  with  the  writer  of  one  thousand  one 
the  Middle  West  hundred  twenty-three  pupils  at- 
tending the  high  schools  of  three  cities  in  Iowa, 
ranging  from  ten  thousand  to  forty  thousand  in 
population. 

The  following  table  presents  the  results  of  this 
study,  together  with  Van  Denburg's  figures  for 
one   thousand    New   York   high-school    pupils    for 

comparison. 

TABLE  VI 

THE    FATHER'S    VOCATION    OF     1,123    PUPILS    IN    THE    IOWA    CITY, 

OTTUMWA  AND  DUBUQUE  HIGH   SCHOOLS,    1913,   COMPARED 

WITH  THOSE  OF   1,004  HIGH-SCHOOL  PUPILS 

IN   NEW   YORK  CITY 

Iowa    New  York 

Agriculture    151 

Trade  and  manufacturing 268  227 

Artisans   156  150 

Middlemen  and  office  workers 92  106 

Transportation    75  46 

Professional    93  36 

Semi-professional    19  36 

Clerical    30  52 

City  and  Federal  employees 40  61 

Personal  service  18  41 

Printing  trades   10  35 

Unclassified    51  36 

Blank    63  89 

Retired    17  13 

Dead   40  76 

The  figures  for  these  two  widely  separated  lo- 
calities present  many  striking  similarities,  for  ex- 


i6o  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

ample,  in  the  case  of  trade  and  manufacture  and 
the  artisans;  and,  in  most  cases,  the  differences 
noted  may  be  easily  explained.  It  is  not  surpris- 
ing, for  instance,  to  find  the  agricultural  class  an 
important  one  in  Iowa.  Some  of  the  other  differ- 
ences, such  as  in  the  number  of  city  and  federal 
employees,  those  doing  personal  service,  and  those 
in  the  printing  trades,  suggests  that  the  distribution 
of  men  in  these  various  vocations  is  slightly  differ- 
ent in  the  smaller  western  cities  than  in  New  York. 
But  the  fact  that  the  children  of  men  in  profes- 
sional work  are  found  more  than  two  and  one-half 
times  as  frequently  in  these  schools  as  in  New  York 
indicates  that  the  schools  in  this  section  are  even 
more  democratic  than  in  the  East.  The  profes- 
sional classes,  quite  as  much  as  the  humbler  types 
of  workers,  see  in  the  public  high  school  a  suitable 
place  for  the  education  of  their  children. 

The  high-school  pupils'  vocational  intentions 
throw  interesting  light  on  the  pupils  themselves 
Vocational  in-  and  Probably  have  something  to 

tentions  of  high-  do  with  their  persistence  and  suc- 
school  pupils  ,,    .      ,  .    ,        ,       ,  , 

*  cess    in   their   high-school    work. 

Van  Denburg,  in  his  study  of  the  one  thousand 
New  York  high-school  pupils,  found  that  forty-one 
per  cent,  of  the  boys  and  fifty-one  per  cent,  of  the 
girls  were,  on  entering  high  school,  either  unde- 
cided as  to  their  life-work  or  expressed  no  choice, 
which  later  may  be  considered  as  practically  equiv- 
alent to  being  undecided.     He  found   further,  in 


ECONOMIC    RELATIONS  161 

tracing  the  progress  of  these  pupils  through  the 
following  years,  that  they  were  much  more  likely 
to  drop  out  of  school  early  in  their  course  than  did 
those  who  had  somewhat  definite  vocational  plans. 
And  of  those  who  had  such  plans,  those  who  had 
chosen  careers  necessitating  high-school  and  college 
or  professional  school  training,  were  more  likely 
to  remain  and  finish  than  those  who  had  chosen, 
for  example,  business  as  a  career.  The  actual  fig- 
ures were  as  follows :  At  the  end  of  two  years 
of  the  high-school  course,  sixty-eight  per  cent,  of 
the  boys  and  sixty-one  per  cent,  of  the  girls  "who 
were  uncertain  as  to  their  probable  future  occupa- 
tion had  dropped  out"  of  school,  while  sixty  per 
cent,  of  the  boys  and  fifty-five  per  cent,  of  the 
girls,  irrespective  of  whether  they  had  a  future 
occupation  in  mind  or  not,  had  left  school  at  the 
same  time.  "This  would  tend  to  show  that  the  boy 
or  girl,  especially  the  boy,  who  has  some  definite 
occupation  in  mind  lasts  a  trifle  better  than  the 
boy  with  no  such  determination." 

The  variety  of  occupations  chosen  reveals  to 
some  extent  the  breadth  of  outlook  of  these  high- 
Comparison  of  sch°o1  youths;  forty  different 
New  York  types  of  work  were  mentioned 
by  the  boys  and  twenty-one  by 
the  girls.  Somewhat  similar  returns  from  eleven 
hundred  and  nine  pupils  in  the  three  medium-sized 
high  schools  in  Iowa  reveal  an  even  wider  outlook 
among  boys  and  girls  in  the  central  parts  of  the 


162  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

country.  The  following  table  presents  the  data 
from  New  York  and  from  Iowa  in  parallel  columns 
for  comparison.  The  larger  number  of  different 
occupations  mentioned  by  the  Iowa  children  and 
the  smaller  percentage  who  have  no  plans  as  to 
their  future  work  are  the  significant  points  to  note 
in  this  table. 

TABLE  VII 

VOCATIONAL   CHOICES   OF   1,109  PUPILS  IN  THE  3  IOWA 
HIGH   SCHOOLS 

New  York 

Different  occupations  chosen  by  all 71  .... 

Different  occupations  chosen  by  boys 54  40 

Different  occupations  chosen  by  girls 30  21 

Different  occupations  chosen  by  2%  or  more 

boys     16  9 

Different  occupations  chosen  by  2%  or  more 

girls    10  7 

Undecided  or  blank,  boys 23%  41% 

Undecided  or  blank,  girls 23%  51% 

Table  VIII  enumerates  the  different  vocations 
chosen  by  five  or  more  pupils  of  either  sex  with 
the  numbers  of  New  York  pupils  who  also  chose 
these  vocations.  Here  again  the  general  tendency 
is  the  same.  Teaching  stands  easily  first  with  the 
girls  in  botrr  the  East  and  the  West,  and  engineer- 
ing is  likewise  the  favorite  with  the  boys.  Van 
Denburg  accounts  for  the  large  choice  of  engineer- 
ing in  New  York  by  the  striking  examples  of  great 
engineering  enterprises  which  the  boys  see  on  every 
hand;  the  great  bridges,  tunnels,  subways,  railway 
terminals  and  lofty  steel  buildings.  But  an  even 
larger  number  of  Iowa  boys  have  an  interest  in 


ECONOMIC    RELATIONS  163 

engineering;  boys  who  can,  at  best,  have  only  read 
about  these  modern  engineering  wonders.  Does  this 
not  indicate  that  there  is  something  inherently  at- 
tractive to  boy-nature  in  the  engineering  pursuits? 
Among  the  vocations  mentioned  by  considerable 
numbers  of  Iowa  girls  but  apparently  not  at  all 
by  New  York  girls  are  nursing  and  domestic  sci- 
ence. Law  and  business  are  apparently  about 
equally  attractive  to  both  groups  of  boys;  but  the 
Iowa  boys  far  exceed  those  of  New  York  in  their 
interest  in  medicine,  and  naturally  also  in  farm- 
ing.* 

TABLE  VIII 

VOCATIONS  CHOSEN   BY  5  OF   MORE  PUPILS  OF  ONE  SEX,  IN  3 
LARGER  IOWA   HIGH    SCHOOLS 

Iowa  New  York 

Boys     Girls  Boys     Girls 

Teaching   13  261  11        16S 

Engineering    94  . .  78 

Stenography  and  bookkeeping.     16  85                   4          55 

Law  32  ..  24           2 

Farming    34  . .                   1 

Nursing  24 

Medicine   30  3                   7 

Business  ^  4  36           4 

Music    23                   1          19 

Dentistry   8  . .                   2 

Pharmacy    8  ..                    3            1 

Salesman    16  ..                    2 

*The  basis  on  which  the  material  from  the  Iowa  schools 
was  collected  was  not  quite  the  same  as  that  used  by  Van 
Denburg,  hence  the  results  are  not  strictly  comparable.  Van 
Denburg  secured  a  report  of  vocational  interests  from  pupils 
as  they  entered  high  school.  Our  reports  are  from  pupils 
of  all  the  high-school  classes.  The  slightly  more  developed 
vocational  interests  of  Iowa  children  are  probably  due  to 
the  inclusion  of  advanced  classes. 


1 64 


THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 


Iowa 
Boys   Girls 

Mechanic   8 

Army  or  navy 8 

Labor   5 

Domestic  science   22 

Keep  house   8 

Librarian   11 

Physical  training   1  6 

Civil  service  5  1 

Office  work 6  5 

Architecture    6 

Millinery    6 


New  York 
Boys   Girls 


TABLE  IX 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  VOCATIONAL  CHOICES  IN  3  SMALL  HIGH  SCHOOLS. 

THE    NARROW    RANGE,    AS    COMPARED    WITH    THAT   OF 

THE    LARGER    SCHOOLS,    IS    SIGNIFICANT 


Lisbon 
Boys  Girls 

Teaching   1       18 

Farming  6 

Engineering    . .     4 

Nursing    0        2 

Merchant   1 

Mechanic   3 

Bookkeeper   

Stenographer   

Scattering.    ...     2        1 
Undecided   —     2      13 


West  Granite 

Branch   Falls  (Minn.)      Totals 
Boys  Girls    Boys  Girls    Boys  Girls 


12 

1 

39 

2 

69 

14 

15 

, . 

35 

3 

10 

2 

1 

4 

17 

'3 
4 

0 

1 

5 

1 

5 

1 

4 

5 

1 

4 

9 

11 

\2 

16 

2 

18 

9 

5 

13 

36 

87    137 


Table  X  shows  how  much  alike  the  choices  of 
the  two  groups  are;  for  only  three  vocations  are 
mentioned  by  two  per  cent,  or  more  of  the  New 
York  children  which  are  not  also  chosen  by  two 
per  cent,  or  more  of  the  Iowa  pupils. 


ECONOMIC    RELATIONS  165 

TABLE  X 

VOCATIONS    MENTIONED  BY  2%   OR    MORE   NEW   YORK   HIGH-SCHOOL 

STUDENTS,    BUT    MENTIONED   BY   LESS   THAN    2% 

IOWA    HIGH-SCHOOL    STUDENTS 

Boys  Girls 

Electrician   9 

Designer    6 

Dressmaker    7 


Van  Denburg  found  a  close  relationship  between 
the  high-school  student's  estimate  of  the  value  of 
Pupil's  estimate       Mgh-school  work  and  the  length  of 

of  value  of  high-  his  stay  in  high  school.  For  in- 
school course  ,      - 

determines  his  stance,  only  forty-seven  per  cent, 
length  of  stay  0f   these   one   thousand   children 

when  they  entered  stated  that  they  regarded  a  high- 
school  education  as  necessary  for  their  purposes  in 
life;  the  rest  answered  that  it  was  not  necessary  or 
that  they  were  uncertain  as  to  its  value.  In  follow- 
ing the  high-school  histories  of  these  pupils,  it  was 
found  that  the  expectancy  of  staying  in  and  com- 
pleting the  course  was  much  higher  with  those 
answering  yes  to  both  questions  than  with  those 
answering  no,  or  undecided. 

The  following  are  the  exact  figures : 
50%  of  the  boys  who  answer  "yes"  stay  two  years. 
50%  of  the  girls  who  answer  "yes"  stay  three  years. 
50%  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  answer  "no"  do  not 

stay  one  year. 

In  Iowa  it  was  found  that  a  goodly  percentage  of 
children  from  all  the  classes  seems  to  appreciate  the 


1 66  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

value  of  a  high-school  education.  The  following 
table  gives  the  figures.  The  large  number  of  Iowa 
boys  who  regard  a  college,  or  some  higher  school, 
as  needful  is  very  significant. 

TABLE  XI 

pupils'  estimates  of  the  value  of  high-school 
and  college  Work 

Iowa 

Are  4  years  in  high-school  necessary  for  your  purpose? 

Yes  No      Uncertain  Totals 

Boys  354  93  87  534 

Girls  336  113  84  533 

Do  you  intend  to  spend  4  years  in  high-school? 

Yes  No      Uncertain  Totals 

Boys    J 470  44  34  548 

Girls  534  47  33  614 

Is  a  college  education  necessary  for  your  purpose? 

Yes  No      Uncertain  Totals 

Boys  337  113  87  537 

Girls  297  206  114  617 

Percentages  Answering  Yes 
Are  4  years  in  high-school  necessary? 

Boys   66% 

Girls  63% 

Do  you  intend  to  stay  4  years  in  high  school? 

Boys   85% 

Girls   87% 

Is  a  college  education  necessary? 

Boys   63% 

Girls   48% 

In  Table  XII  are  presented  some  figures  as  to 
studies  in  which  the  students  of  four  Iowa  high 


ECONOMIC    RELATIONS  167 

Reaction  to  schools  were  most  interested,  least 

studies  interested,  and  the  ones  in  which 

failures  were  reported.  It  was  thought  in  gather- 
ing this  information  that  there  might  be  some  re- 
lation between  a  student's  school  interests,  his  vo- 
cational preference  and  perhaps  even  his  intention 
to  remain  in  high  school  for  the  entire  course.  We 
were  not  able  to  detect  any  such  relationships  from 
the  data  as  they  came  to  us,  but  the  figures  by  them- 
selves are  of  some  significance. 

TABLE  XII 

STUDIES   IN   WHICH   THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   STUDENTS  OF   IOWA   CITY, 
DUBUQUE,    BURLINGTON    AND    OTTUMWA    ARE: 

Most  Least  Reported 

Interested       Interested  Failures 

English    Boys     179  146  54 

Girls    321  118  44 

Latin   Boys      64  106  87 

Girls     154  86  53 

German   Boys      69  65  79 

Girls     192  78  50 

Mathematics    Boys    286  120  143 

Girls    237  296  148 

History   Boys     158  88  48 

Girls     153  160  53 

Physical    Science. ..  .Boys     137  26  11 

Girls      89  46  17 

Biology    Boys      31  19  4 

Gir'ls      38  13  2 

Commercial    Boys      70  10  9 

Girls      63  4  6 

Manual   Training Bovs      55  5  1 

Girls        2  6 

Domestic    Science. .  .Girls      64  10  4 


1 68  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

The  differences  between  boys  and  girls  in  regard 
to  English,  Latin  and  German  is  especially  inter- 
Differences  be-  esting.  Several  questions  arise  in 
tweenboys  one's  mind.     For  example,  is  the 

girls'  preference  for  these  sub- 
jects due  to  the  fact  that  the  intrinsic  quality,  of  the 
subjects  makes  more  of  an  appeal  to  the  girl-mind 
than  to  the  boy-mind,  or  does  the  fact  that  these  sub- 
jects are  taught  by  women  mean  that  they  tend  to  be 
presented  in  ways  better  suited  to  arouse  the  girls' 
interest  than  the  boys'  ?  Both  of  these  factors  prob- 
ably have  their  influence.  On  the  other  hand,  boys 
surpass  girls  in  their  interest  in  mathematics,  history 
and  physical  sciences,  judged  both  by  positive 
preference  and  by  the  much  smaller  numbers  of 
boys  who  select  these  subjects  as  those  in  which 
they  are  least  interested.  From  the  small  numbers 
of  each  sex  who  mention  commercial  subjects,  man- 
ual training  and  domestic  science  as  most  interest- 
ing, we  should  judge,  either  that  they  are  not 
largely  elected  or  are  not  taught,  thus  far,  so  as  to 
make  a  very  definite  appeal  to  children  of  the  high- 
school  age.  Whether  one  or  both  of  these  condi- 
tions are  true,  it  indicates  that  these  so-called  prac- 
tical and  semi-vocational  subjects  do  not  thus  far 
awaken  the  interest  in  the  pupils  of  these  cities  that 
the  older  and  better  standardized  subjects  are  able 
to  do. 

As  to  failures,  the  various  mathematical  subjects 
easily  outrank  all  others.    This  may  be  due  to  less 


ECONOMIC    RELATIONS  169 

Mathematics  efficient    teaching,    to    too    great 

difficult  difficulty  in  the  subjects  or  to  too 

little  willingness  of  large  numbers  of  high-school 
pupils  to  overcome  the  difficulties  that  these 
branches  present. 

In  connection  with  these  figures  regarding  fail- 
ures which  are  based  solely  upon  the  pupils'  own  re- 

_  ...  ports   and  which,   therefore,   are 

Data  on  failures         v 

from  a  single  subject    to   more    or    less    error 

scho°l  (probably   in   most   cases   in  the 

pupils'  favor)'  the  following  data  are  of  interest. 

TABLE  XIII 

THE  NUMBER  OF  PASSING  GRADES  MADE  IN  VARIOUS   SUBJECTS  BY 

1,042  PUPILS  IN  23  SUCCESSIVE  CLASSES  IN  THE 

IOWA  CITY  HIGH   SCHOOL 

Passing  Percentage 

Grades  Failures  of  Failures 

English,  including  literature...     4,541  544            11% 

Algebra  2.140  498           19% 

Geometry   1,506  253            14% 

History  and  civics 3,163  397            11% 

Latin    2,693  468            15% 

German   1,271  87             6% 

Commercial  work  644  45             7% 

Physical  sciences  1,189  111              9% 

Biological  sciences    1,013  82              8% 

Manual  training 678  32             5% 

From  the  above  table,  covering  an  eleven-year 
period  for  a  single  high  school,  it  appears,  from  the 
failures  recorded,  that  algebra  ranks  first  in  diffi- 
culty. Latin  is  second  and  geometry  a  close  third. 
While  no  percentages  can  be  computed  from  Table 
XII  for  exact  comparison  with  the  data  in  Table 


i;o  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

XIII,  there  is  a  striking  similarity  in  the  relative 
difficulty  of  subjects  as  there  presented. 

Author  referred  to  in  the  text: 

(i)  Van  Denburg,  J.  K.,  Elimination  of  Pupils 
From  Public  Secondary  Schools,  New  York, 
1911. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    STUDY    HABITS    AND    AMUSEMENTS    OF    HIGH- 
SCHOOL  PUPILS 

THE  questionnaire,  which  yielded  the  data 
given  in  the  preceding  chapter  for  the  four 
Iowa  high  schools,  also  called  for  a  report  from 
Hours  of  study  each   student   as   to   the    approx- 

outside  of  school  imate  number  of  hours  spent  in 
study  outside  of  school  hours.  Practically  all 
high-school  officials  agree  in  thinking  that  unless 
some  provision  is  made  in  school  for  longer  periods 
of  supervised  study  some  outside  study  is  both  de- 
sirable and  necessary,  and  this  notwithstanding  the 
arguments  recently  presented  in  certain  popular 
magazines  against  home  study. 

These  pupils  were  asked  to  check  the  one  from 
five  estimates  which  most  nearly  represented  the 
amount  of  time  spent  per  week  in  home  study. 

The  following  table  gives  the  answers  of  four- 
teen hundred  thirty-one  pupils  of  these  four  schools. 
TABLE  XIV 

HOURS  OF  STUDY  PER  WEEK  OUTSIDE  OF   SCHOOL 
(4  IOWA  HIGH  SCHOOLS) 

0-4  5-8  9-12  13-16  17-20 

B.   G.  B.    G.  B.    G.  B.   G.  B.   G. 

Dubuque    ....     13    18  123    100  27     48  10    14  2     3 

Iowa  City    ...     21   20  91    115  50     69  11    30  8     3 

Ottumwa    ....       8   13  96    118  42     88  11    27  16 

Burlington    ...     17   20  51     77  23     32  4   15  2     4 

Totals    59  71      361   410      142  237      36  86      13   16 

171 


172  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL"   AGE 

Here,  as  in  the  answers  to  the  previous  questions, 
there  is  doubtless  more  or  less  inaccuracy  with  the 
probabilities  lying  on  the  side  of  an  over-  rather 
than  an  under-estimate.  The  correspondence  in 
the  times  given  by  the  students  of  the  different 
schools  is  very  striking  and  indicates  that  in  spite 
of  errors  in  individual  cases  these  estimates  repre- 
sent fairly  the  distribution  of  Iowa  high-school 
pupils  as  to  the  amount  of  time  spent  in  home  study. 
Five  to  eight  hours  of  home  study  per  week  is  the 
most  common  report.  Whether  this  is  enough  time 
for  the  average  pupil,  each  high-school  principal 
must  judge  for  himself.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  of  some 
importance  in  dealing  with  the  high-school  situation 
to  know  the  actual  distribution  of  our  pupils  in  this 
matter  of  home  study. 

It  was  thought  that  there  might  be  some  relation 
between  success  in  studies  and  amount  of  home 

Is  success  in  stud-  study-  The  reports  of  two  hun- 
ies  related  to  out-  dred  forty- four  Burlington  pupils 
side  study?  in  the  tenth>  eleventh  and  tweifth 

grades  were  studied  with  this  question  in  mind,  but 
there  was  no  relationship  apparent  from  the  data 
furnished  by  the  students.  The  results  were  as  fol- 
lows: 


Hours  per 

week 

Percentage  failing 

Percentage  failing 

in  home  study 

1  or  more  times 

2  or  more  times 

(M 

56% 

33% 

5-8 

45% 

29% 

9-12 

54% 

36% 

13-16 

17% 

17% 

17-20 

0% 

0% 

STUDY    AND   AMUSEMENTS        173 


While  there  seems  to  be  no  relationship  in  terms; 
of  mere  failures,  there  is,  no  doubt,  a  relationship 
in  terms  of  the  quality  of  work  done  if  we  but  had 
its  measure  in  actual  grades.  This  is  a  point  on 
which  we  must  for  the  present  defer  a  definite 
answer. 

The  pupils  in  these  four  Iowa  schools  reported 
themselves  as  spending  entire  evenings  per  week  at 
home,  as  follows : 

TABLE  XV 

ENTIRE    EVENINGS    PER    WEEK    SPENT    AT    HOME    AS    REPORTED    BY 
PUPILS   OF    4   LARGE   IOWA    HIGH    SCHOOLS 

(1st  Columns,  Boys) 


Evenings 

7 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

0    I 

Iowa  City.. . . 
Dubuque .... 
Burlington  . . 
Ottumwa 

12 
6 

R 

7 

34 
19 

10 

1-1 

17!24 

13118 

614 

9:36 

39 

28 
31 
24 

122 

53 
42 

4:, 
78 

218 

30 
40 
35 
38 

143 

50 
59 
53 

94 

256 

43 
43 
19 
40 

145 

25 
30 
12 
37 

23 
-27 
L5 
19 

11 

I 

7 
26 

6 

4 
23 

1 
1 
0 
1 

3 

11 
7 
4 
8 

31 

4 
0 
2 
0 

Totals 

30 

77  45  92 

104  84 

6 

Percentages.. 

8% 

9% 

24% 

28% 

|  18% 

8% 

2% 

3% 

Grand  total,  Boys  623;  Girls  782. 

SIMILAR  REPORT  FROM   TWO  SMALL   SCHOOLS 


Evenings 

7 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

0 

73 

O 

H 

West  Branch. 

4 

1 
3 

sl  8 
2   5 

s 
4 

s 
7 

15 

2 
2 

4 

7 
5 

12 

4 
1 

6 

4 
7 

11 

1 
3 

4 

6 
5 

1 
1 

1 

1 

I 

7 

5 
2 

23 

21 

33 

35 

Totals 

4 

4 

W3 

7 

U 

68 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  table  that  the  boys  most 
commonly  report  three  and  four  evenings  out  of 


174  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

the  week  at  home  and  the  girls  four  and  five.  Not 
many  of  us  will  feel  that  this  report  is  altogether 
auspicious  for  the  good  of  the  high-school  pupils. 
When  the  number  of  evenings  per  week  spent  at 
home  falls  below  five  on  the  average,  one  can  not 
help  but  feel  that  home  life  and  home  influences  are 
playing  too  little  part  in  the  lives  of  these  adoles- 
cents. Fifty-nine  per  cent,  spend  four  evenings  or 
less  at  home. 

In  order  to  see  what  relation  might  exist  between 
success  in  school  and  evenings  at  home,  the  answers 

of    the    entire   fourteen   hundred 
Relation  between  .,  ,  .   A, 

evenings  at  home      pupils  were  reexamined,  and  the 

and  school  number   of   failures   reported   by 

efficiency  ...-',  ,. 

them  were  distributed  according 

to  the  entire  evenings  per  week  which  they  reported 

themselves  as  spending  at  home.     Tables  XVI  and 

XVII  give  the  results  of  this  inquiry. 

TABLE  XVI 

RELATION    BETWEEN    NUMBER   OF    PUPILS    FAILING    ONE    OR    MORE 

TIMES  IN    STUDIES   AND  ENTIRE  EVENING   SPENT 

AT  HOME  PER  WEEK 

Evenings  7  6  5  4  3  2  10 

Number  of  cases..  46  42  86  80  68  34  7  15 

Iowa  City 

Per  cent,  failing...  14  36  27  28  50  64  70  74 

Number  of  cases..  25  39  81  99  73  35  11  7 

Dubuque 

Per  cent,  failing...  12  20  30  34  50  46  55  86 

Number  of  cases..  15  28  66  78  31  17  3  6 

Burlington 

Per  cent,  failing...  47  20  47  48  58  65  100  67 

Number  of  cases..  21  46  102  132  77  26  5  9 

Ottumwa 

Per  cent,  failing.. .  48  37  36  47  51  51  60  45 


STUDY   AND   AMUSEMENTS        175 
TABLE  XVII 

DISTRIBUTION   OF  NUMBER  OF  FAILURES  PER   HUNDRED  PUPILS 
ACCORDING  TO  EVENINGS   AT   HOME 

Entire  evenings  at 

home    7  6  5  4  3  2  1  0 

Iowa  City  20  48  S3  59  89  86  114  153 

Dubuque    24  23  51  55  100  117  72  157 

Burlington    80  31  98  105  180  206  300  166 

Ottumwa   76  69  51  93  100  104  120  90 

Averages    50      43      63      78    117    128    152    142 

Pupils  reported,  as  spending  four  to  seven  entire 
evenings  per  week  at  home  average  fifty-eight  fail- 
ures per  hundred  pupils. 

Pupils  reported  as  spending  from  none  to  three 
evenings  per  week  at  home  average  one  hundred 
thirty-five  failures  per  hundred  pupils. 

A  recent  study  of  three  hundred  eighty  delin- 
quent pupils  in  the  Minneapolis  high  schools(i) 
revealed  the  fact  that  forty-six  per  cent,  of  them 
confessed  that  they  were  "out"  the  larger  share  of 
evenings  in  a  week.  No  data  were  reported  as  to 
the  home-staying  habits  of  the  pupils  whose  school 
work  was  up  to  grade,  but  in  the  light  of  the  re- 
turns from  the  Iowa  high  schools  it  is  fair  to  as- 
sume that  there  was  a  direct  relation  between  the 
delinquency  of  those  Minneapolis  pupils  and  the 
little  time  they  spend  at  home. 

The  preceding  information  regarding  these  four- 
teen hundred  pupils  in  the  four  Iowa  high  schools 
relates  more  or  less  directly  to  their  school  work 
and  school  interests.     It  might  be  interesting  to 


i/6       the  high-school;  age 

know,  in  connection  with  this,  something  of  what 

these  pupils  are  doing  aside  from  their  school  work, 

whether   they    help    at   home,    whether    they   earn 

money  or  not  and  the  extent  of  their  participation 

in  certain  forms  of  amusement. 

The   following  table   gives  the  answers  to  the 

question — Do  you  have  work  at  home?    The  data 

are  given  separately  for  each  city 
Work  at  home  .  ,  ,         ,  .        . 

in  order  to  show  how  far  there  is 

any  uniformity  in  this  particular. 
TABLE  XVIII 

DO  YOU  HAVE  WORK  AT  HOME? 

Yes  No 

Boys     Girls  Boys      Girls 

Iowa  City  156  197  33  32 

Dubuque    140  143  24  34 

Burlington    87  142  10  20 

Ottumwa    154  242  7  16 

537       724  74       102 

Grand  total :  1,437. 
Yes,  88% ;  No,  12%. 

The  fact  that  the  girls  slightly  exceed  the  boys 
in  helping  with  home  work  is  natural  in  view  of 
the  sort  of  work  that  is  usually  available  for  chil- 
dren in  city  homes.  It  is  encouraging  for  those 
who  believe  that  children  should  learn  to  participate 
in  home  duties  to  note  the  large  percentage  of  these 
pupils  who  report  such  participation.  In  the  study 
just  referred  to,  of  three  hundred  eighty  delinquent 
pupils  in  the  Minneapolis  high  schools  it  was  found 
that  the  number  who  reported  home  work  of  any 


STUDY    AND    AMUSEMENTS        177 

kind  was  much  less.  Whether,  however,  there  is 
any  general  connection  between  lack  of  home  work 
and  delinquency  is  a  subject  demanding  further  in- 
vestigation before  it  can  be  definitely  answered.  It 
is  natural  to  suppose  that  a  complete  absence  of  all 
responsibility  at  home  might  lead  to  an  excess  of 
outside  activities  which  would  interfere  materially 
with  school  success.  The  only  data  from  which  we 
could  infer  the  school  standing  of  these  Iowa  pupils 
were  the  number  of  semester  failures  reported  by 
each  pupil,  and  there  was  no  apparent  relation  be- 
tween these  failures  and  home  work  or  lack  of  it. 

The  distribution  of  time  spent  at  home  work  by 
these  pupils  was  given  by  them  as  follows : 

TABLE  XIX 

TIME  PER  DAY   SPENT  BY   IOWA    HIGH-SCHOOL  PUPILS   AT 
HOME   WORK 

(Left-hand  numbers,  boys) 

0  Less  than  1  hr.       1-2  hrs.  3-4  hrs.  5-6  hrs. 

74    102  51    69  263    343  67    113  46    54 

The  question  next  arises — Do  any  of  these  pupils 

who  do  not  work  at  home  have  work  of  some  sort 

..     .        .  outside  of  home?    Some  of  these 

Number  who  earn 

money  outside  do,  but  it  happens  quite  as  fre- 

of  school  quently  that  they  do  no  work  of 

any  kind  while  those  who  report  home  work  also 
quite  as  often  report  that  they  work  outside  also. 
In  answer  to  the  question — Do  you  earn  money 
outside  of  school?  the  following  information  was 


1 78 


THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 


secured:  Yes:  Boys,  426;  Girls,  192.  No: 
Boys,  205;  Girls,  665;  68%  of  the  boys  and  22% 
of  the  girls  reporting  that  they  earn  money  in  one 
way  or  another  outside  of  school. 

It  is  of  some  interest  to  know  the  kinds  of  work 
mentioned  by  these  pupils.  This  is  given  in  Tables 
XX  and  XXI. 

TABLE  XX 

KINDS  OF  WORK  FOR  WHICH   MONEY  IS  EARNED,   MENTIONED  BY  2 
OR  MORE  PUPILS 


Clerking    92 

Odd  jobs   70 

Helping  at  home 48 

Delivering  papers   44 

Farming    19 

Music  teacher  16 

Vacation  work  15 

Music  and  singing 14 

Collecting  12 

Delivery  boy  11 

Shop  and  office 10 

Caring  furnace 10 

Factory,  mill,  etc 10 

Canvassing  9 

Office  attendant 9 

Chauffeur   8 

Photography   8 

Artist  6 

Poultry    6 

Waiter  5 

Barber   5 

Janitor  5 


Usher  4 

Picture  show  4 

Printing    3 

Reporting    3 

Telephone  office  3 

Elevator  boy 3 

Automobile     and     motor 

cycle  repairs  3 

Distributing  ads  3 

In  bank  3 

Engineering  gang 2 

Tailor    3 

Painter    2 

Hunting    2 

Fancy  work  2 

Railroad  office 2 

Newspaper  office  2 

Sheet  metal  2 

Mechanic    2 

Baking  2 

Y.  M.  C.  A 2 

Salesman 2 


KINDS  OF  WORK  MENTIONED  BY   1  PUPIL  ONLY 


Reading  gas  meters 

Millinery 

Staying  with  neighbors  nights 

Checking 

Making  pennants 

Selling  cream 

Selling  milk 

Typewriting 


Dentist's  office 
Selling  peanuts 
Running  a  boat 
Soda  fountain 
Electrical  work 
Helping  neighbors 
Automobile  sales 
Substitute  teacher 


STUDY  AND    AMUSEMENTS        179 

Fishing  Sanatorium 

Delivering  eggs  Messenger 

Mowing  lawns  Greenhouse 

Tumping  church  organ  Engineer 

Plumbing  Artist's  model 

Garage  Carpentry 

Window  trimming  Library  work 
Sewing 


TABLE  XXI 

DIFFERENT  KINDS  OF  WORK   MENTIONED  BY  BOYS  AND  GIRLS 

Boys  Girls         Combined 

Iowa  City •  •  37 

Dubuque    36  6  39 

Ottumwa    36  17  44 

Burlington    23  15  35 

The  considerable  variety  of  work  which  high- 
school  pupils  in  these  cities  find  to  do  is  significant. 

_,      .  „.  While  a  number  of  these  employ- 

Bearing  on  ju-  r    J 

venile  occupa-  ments  would  have  to  be  classed  as 

tions"  problem  „ juvenile  occupations,"  and  as  not 

leading  anywhere  in  particular,  "a  juvenile  occu- 
pation" is  not  altogether  to  be  condemned  in  these 
cases.  When  a  boy  or  girl  is  in  school,  such  a  type 
of  work,  even  though  it  does  not  lead  directly  to 
any  future  vocation,  is  a  steadying  influence  upon 
the  youngster,  serving  to  give  a  little  experience  in 
personal  responsibility  and  in  the  practical  side  of 
life.  The  experience  of  earning  money  for  one's 
self,  even  in  a  temporary  employment,  is  a  prepara- 
tion for  future  work  that  is  decidedly  worth  while. 
It  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  many  high-school 


180  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

pupils,  with  the  best  part  of  their  day  given  up  to 
Degree  of  rela-  school    work,    should    find    much 

tion  between  out-  time  outside  to  spend  in  preparing 

side  work  and  ,                               ,                                     « 

vocational  ior  any  particular  vocation.    And 

interest  vetj     out     Qf     tjle     sjx     hundred 

eighteen  who  report  themselves  as-  earning  money, 
thirty-six  or  nearly  six  per  cent,  are  doing  outside 
work  more  or  less  directly  related  to  what  they  are 
planning  to  do  when  they  leave  school.  Table  XXII 
shows  just  what  these  employments  are. 


TABLE  XXII 

RELATION  BETWEEN  OUTSIDE  WORK  FOR  PAY  AND  VOCATIONAL 

INTENTIONS 

Collection    1      Banking 2 

Office  work  1  Manufacturing  and  artisan  2 

Teaching  1      Engineering    2 

Domestic  science  and  art.  4      Automobile  repairing 1 

Clerking    2      Tailoring    1 

Teaching  music   6      Dentist's  office 1 

Singing  and  music 4      Railroad  office 1 

Farming   4      Artists    2 

Salesmanship  1 

In  view,  however,  of  the  present  interest  in  vo- 
cational education,  the  question  may  be  raised  as  to 
Should  there  be  a  whether  the  conditions  here 
larger  relation?  shown  are  as  favorable  for  our 
high-school  boys  and  girls  as  they  should  be. 
Should  not  the  school  and  the  community  attempt 
to  provide  more  opportunity  for  these  pupils  to  get 
work  which  will  minister  more  directly  to  their  vo- 


STUDY   AND    AMUSEMENTS        181 

cational  interests?  As  long  as  the  school  studies 
pursued  by  these  pupils  are  so  largely  of  the  purely 
"liberal"  or  cultural  type,  there  can,  of  course,  be 
little  relationship  between  school  work  itself  and 
work  outside.  Furthermore,  it  must  be  recognized 
that  many  types  of  vocational  interest,  such  as 
engineering,  law,  medicine  or  teaching,  could  not 
usually  find  any  opportunity  for  expression  during 
the  school  years.  But  there  are  also  many  interests 
which  might  find  expression  while  the  pupil  is  in 
school.  To  bring  about  such  a  connection,  the 
school  on  its  part  would  have  to  give  more  attention 
to  cultivating  the  vocational  interests  of  its  pupils. 
With  no  special  effort  on  the  part  of  the  school  to 
cultivate  such  an  intelligent  insight  into  the  diverse 
opportunities  of  the  modern  world,  the  range  of 
interests  already  possessed  by  these  Iowa  pupils  is 
comparatively  limited,  as  we  saw  above  in  Table 
VIII.  If  the  school  would  undertake  to  enlighten 
its  pupils  systematically  as  to  vocational  opportuni- 
ties, if  it  would  also  provide  more  vocational  studies 
and  give  more  attention  to  the  practical  relation- 
ship involved  in  the  ordinary  studies,  the  pupil 
would  be  provided  with  a  better  basis  on  which  to 
go  out  into  his  community  and  choose  his  work. 

But  the  community,  also,  should  do  something, 
perhaps  under  the  leadership  of  the  school.  The 
The  community's  modern  community  should  be 
responsibility  \t(\  t0  take  a  more  direct  interest 


1 82  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

in  the  future  of  its  children  than  is  expressed  in 
simply  providing  them  with  the  ordinary  school  op- 
portunities. People  engaged  in  different  lines  of 
work  should  feel  a  responsibility  for  providing 
ways  for  boys  and  girls  who  are  inclined  in  various 
directions  to  gain  a  little  experience  in  the  work 
that  interests  them  while  they  are  going  to  school. 

The  industrial  schools  have  already  begun  to 
work  out  and  apply  various  schemes  of  part-time 
employment  for  their  pupils  in  the  trades,  but  what 
we  have  in  mind  here  is  a  more  general  and  less 
intensive  application  of  the  idea.  Not  that  the  boy 
in  the  ordinary  high  school  who  wishes  to  work 
shall  be  employed  in  some  trade,  for  example,  on 
alternate  weeks,  but  rather  that  opportunities  shall 
be  carefully  developed  in  every  community,  whereby 
many  such  boys  and  even  girls  shall  gain  some  slight 
contact  with  different  vocations  in  their  outside 
work.  Such  contact  should  give  the  youngster  not 
merely  a  chance  to  make  a  little  money,  but  also  an 
insight  into,  and  practical  appreciation  of,  the  re- 
quirements of  the  vocation  he  wishes  later  to  fol- 
low. 

As  to  the  social  and  recreational  interests  of  these 

fourteen  hundred  Iowa  high-school  pupils,  the  fol- 

_     .  lowing  table  summarizes  the  re- 

Parties  per  month  ,  .  . 

turns  as  to  the  number  of  parties, 

moving-picture  shows  and  theaters  per  month  which 

they  report  themselves  as  attending.     The  reports 

from  different  cities  are  fairly  uniform. 


STUDY   AND    AMUSEMENTS        183 

TABLE  XXIII 

PARTIES  PER   MONTH  ATTENDED  BY   IOWA   HIGH-SCHOOL  PUPILS 

(Left-hand  numbers,  boys) 


None  or 
lessthanl      1 

a 

3 

4 

1 

6 

7 

8  or 

more 

196  161      117  199 
f  26              23 

128  216 
25 

56    94 
11 

36    58 
8 

22    31 

4 

10    23 
2 

2    2 
0.3 

9    4 

1 

About  48%  attend  1-2  parties  per  month. 

About  26%  attend  more  than  2  parties  per  month. 

About  26%  attend  none  or  less  than  1  party  per  month. 

MOVING-PICTURE   SHOWS   PER   MONTH 

0         1-3        4-6        7-9       10-15     16  or  more 
91  176     153  365     185  197     57  63      71  64       53  43 

THEATERS   ATTENDED   PER    MONTH 

Noneor  8  or 

lessthanl       12  3  4  5  6  7         more 

109  230         15  134    101  138      58  61        75  85       23  19       26  19         9  4        30  16 

As  in  the  case  of  preceding  tables  the  reader  will 
have  to  interpret  these  figures  for  himself.     Pos- 
sibly no  one  of  these  diversions, 

voted  tbthese  hY  itself>  is  indulged  in  by  large 

diversions  ex-  numbers  to  excess,  but  taken  to- 

cessive? 

gether  they  represent  a  consider- 
able expenditure  of  time  in  at  least  three  forms  of 
diversions.  In  most  cases  the  pupil  who  goes  to 
few  or  no  parties  does  not  indulge  in  the  other 
forms  of  amusement.  The  general  tendency  is  for 
all  to  be  represented  in  about  the  same  proportion  in 
the  pupils  who  do  participate  at  all.  These  figures 
will  be  taken  by  some  as  a  proof  of  the  statement 
often  made  that  it  is  not  the  school  work  as  such 
which  is  injurious  to  the   health  of  the   ordinary 


1 84  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

adolescent,  but  that  he  suffers  most  from  the  multi- 
plicity of  his  outside  interests. 

In  connection  with  the  figures  given  above,  the 
following  words  of  Miss  Slattery,   regarding  the 

girl  in  her  teens,  seem  to  strike 
Relation  between  ,  ,    , 

outside  interests  verv  nearly  the  truth  of  the  mat- 
and"nerv-  ter#      ^e  WT[tes .      "S0  many   0f 

ousness  .  J 

our  girls  are  'nervous/  An  eighth 

grade  teacher  told  me  recently  that  she  had  fifty 
girls  in  her  class  and  that  according  to  their 
mothers,  forty-one  of  them  were  Very  nervous.'  It 
seemed  to  her  a  large  proportion  even  for  girls  in 
their  early  teens,  and  she  began  a  quiet  study  of 
some  of  them.  One  of  the  'very  nervous'  girls  who, 
her  mother  thought,  must  be  taken  out  of  school 
for  a  while,  takes  both  piano  and  violin  lessons,  at- 
tends dancing  school,  goes  to  parties  now  and  then, 
and  rarely  retires  before  ten  o'clock.  Another  'very 
nervous'  girl  takes  piano  lessons,  goes  to  moving- 
picture  shows  once  or  twice  a  week,  hates  milk, 
can't  eat  eggs,  doesn't  care  much  for  fruit,  and  is 
extremely  fond  of  candy.  In  each  case  investigated 
there  seemed  to  be  much  outside  of  school. work 
which  could  explain  the  nervousness."  (2)] 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text : 

(1)  Hobbs,  W.  W.,  and  others,  An  Inquiry  Into 
the  Cause  of  Student  Delinquency  in  the 
Minneapolis  High  Schools.  School  Review, 
20:593,1912. 

(2*    Slattery,  Margaret,  The  Girl  in  Her  Teens. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  RELATION  OF  SUCCESS  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL  TO 
ENTERING  AGE 

OUR  study  of  the  physical  and  mental  char- 
acteristics of  the  teens   has   suggested  that 
there  is  a  close  relationship  between  these  develop- 

0  .     .  mental  phases  in  the  pupil  and  his 

School  success  *  r   r 

depends  on  vari-       school    record.       Moreover,    ex- 

ous  conditions  ,  •  ,  in- 

ternal    social     conditions,     over 

which  the  pupil  has  no  control,  such  as  nationality 
and  occupation  of  parents  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  the  pupil's  own  vocational  interests  and 
plans,  his  outside  study  and  work,  and  his  amuse- 
ments, which  he  does  control,  in  part  at  least,  and 
which  are  to  some  extent  the  reflection  of  physical 
and  mental  transformations  which  he  is  undergo- 
ing; all  these  also  play  some  part  in  determining 
how  successful  he  will  be  as  a  pupil. 

The  influence  of  all  these  factors,  physical,  men- 
tal and  social,  depends  to  some  extent  on  the  age 
These  vary  with  0I  the  pupil.  The  internal  factors 
age  of  pupil  0f  his  own  physical  and  mental 

being  and  his  response  to  certain  social  conditions 
develop  at  different  ages  and  exert  correspondingly 
different  degrees  of  influence.    The  age  of  the  pupil 

185 


1 86  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

in  years  becomes,  then,  a  significant  fact  to  take 
into  account  in  any  inquiry  we  may  make  into  his 
efficiency  at  a  particular  time.  Mere  age  is,  of 
course,  only  a  rough  measure  of  various  underlying 
and  less  easily  determined  conditions,  but,  rough 
though  it  may  be,  it  is  of  value  because  it  yields  to 
definite  quantitative  statement.  Age  is  not  even  it- 
self a  cause,  it  is  rather  an  index  of  certain  in- 
fluences which  can  not  in  themselves  be  so  definitely 
put  down  in  numerical  terms. 

If  we  had  accurate  information  of  inner  changes 
and  the  quality  of  work  of  a  considerable  group  of 
pupils  and  if,  also,  we  knew  definitely  the  social, 
economic  and  recreational  habits  of  these  pupils  we 
might  be  able  to  state  in  numerical  terms  the  rela- 
tion of  the  former  to  the  latter.  The  obtaining  of 
such  information,  while  difficult,  is  not  impossible, 
and  accurate  statements  can  be  made  as  soon  as 
some  one  appears  who  has  the  time  and  the  patience 
to  collect  the  necessary  data.  But  the  data  as  to 
age  and  school  success  is  already  available  and  has, 
in  a  few  places,  been  carefully  worked  over.  The 
results  are  interesting  and  suggestive.  The  re- 
lationships that  appear  are  sufficiently  definite  to 
promise  much  to  the  student  who  will  have  the 
patience  to  secure  measurements  of  the  underlying 
changes  which  age  in  years  only  roughly  indicates. 

From  studies  thus  far  made  we  may  gain  some 
idea  of  the  probable  ability,  at  the  time  of  entering 
high  school,  of  high-school  boys  and  girls  as  com- 


THE    RELATION     OE     SUCCESS     187 


pared  with  school  children  in  general.  We  can  also 
tell  something  of  the  relation  between  entering  age 
and  degree  of  success  attained  later  in  high-school 
work.* 


••-,■' 

25  f 

Uf 

Uf 

.1* 

3? 

5< 

.7- 

o_   0 

11       12      13       U      15       10       17       18       19      20 

^  Figure  7. 

Age  distribution  of  1033  pupil.s  entering  the^ 
Iowa  City  High  School  in  23  consecutiye  classes." 
Median  age  approximately  1_^.9. 

If  the  records  of  entering,  or  ninth  grade,  classes 

of  any  large  high  school  are  examined,  the  pupils 

^  .  will  usually  be  found  to  range  in 

Range  of  age  J 

of  high-school  age    from    twelve    to    seventeen 

with    now    and    then 


years, 


an 


*The  data  for  this  discussion  are  drawn  partly  from  Van 
Denburg's  Elimination  of  Students  in  Public  Secondary 
Schools  and,  partly,  from  an  unpublished  study  by  Mr.  J.  J. 
Dynes,  sometime  a  graduate  student  in  the  State  University  of 
Iowa,  entitled,  The  Relation  of  Retardation  to  Elimination 
in  High-School  Students. 


1 88  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

eleven-year-old  and  a  very  few  over  eighteen.  Fig- 
ure 7  shows  graphically  the  distribution  of  entering 
ages,  for  twenty-three  successive  classes,  in  one 
medium-sized  high  school  in  Iowa.  The  sexes  are 
combined  in  this  curve  since  there  is  little  differ- 
ence in  the  showing  made  by  boys  and  girls  sep- 
arately. It  will  be  seen  that,  for  this  school,  the 
most  common  entering  age  is  from  fourteen  to 
fifteen.  The  median  age  of  all  entrants  was  about 
14.9  years.  The  median  entering  age  of  the  one 
thousand  high-school  pupils  in  New  York  City 
studied  by  Van  Denburg  was  found  to  be  slightly 
less,  namely  14.5.  It  would  be  of  great  value  to 
know  what  degree  of  physiological  development  had 
been  attained  by  each  of  these  age  groups  at  the 
time  of  entrance  into  high  school.  This  we  have  no 
data  for  determining,  but  it  is  probable  that  most 
of  both  sexes  were  either  maturing  or  matured, 
with  frequent  cases,  however,  of  immature  chil- 
dren especially  in  the  age  groups  below  fifteen.* 

The  fact  of  greatest  significance  in  this  distribu- 
tion of  entering  ages  is  that  the  median  age  is 

„.     .„           „  less  than  fifteen  years;  that  is, 

Significance  of  J 

low  median  age  one-half  of  all  the  pupils  studied 

of  entrance  jn  thege  tWQ  cjtjes  entere(j  before 

fifteen.  This  fact,  we  say,  is  significant  because 
it  throws  some  light  on  the  ability  of  these  ninth 
graders.     In  Iowa  City  the  children  entering  the 


*  Cf.  Table  XXIV,  page  193. 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS     189 

elementary  schools  probably  average  six  years  of 
age.  In  New  York  City  the  average  age  of  entrance 
is  given  as  seven.  If  these  Iowa  children  are  reg- 
ularly promoted  they  finish  the  elementary  course 
in  eight  years  or  at  the  end  of  their  fourteenth 
year.  Similarly,  New  York  children  would  nor- 
mally finish  the  elementary  schools  at  the  end  of 
their  fifteenth  year.  If,  then,  more  than  half  of 
those  who  enter  high  school  enter  earlier  than  at 
the  above  mentioned  ages,  they  have  at  one  or  more 
points  in  their  elementary-school  work  skipped 
grades  or  gained  special  promotions.  Every  such 
incident  in  the  school-life  of  a  child  is  an  indica- 
tion that  he  has  possessed,  at  one  time  or  another, 
more  than  average  ability.  Those  who  are  ready 
for  high  school  at  twelve  must  have  made  several 
such  special  promotions. 

Now,  if  we  contrast  the  proportion  of  those 
specially  promoted  who  enter  high  school  with  the 

number  of  special  promotions  in 
Evidence  of  su-  A.  ,.         ,  '  ,       , 

perior  ability  of  the  entire  elementary-school  pop- 
high-school  ulation  we  can  get  a  rough  meas- 
entrants  °  ° 

ure  of  the  ability  of  high-school 

entrants  in  comparison  with  the  ability  of  school 
children  generally. 

In  New  York  City,  accelerated  pupils  occur  in 
the  ratio  of  about  one  to  twenty-three  of  the  total 
elementary-school  population.  When,  therefore, 
sixty-four  per  cent,  of  this  New  York  group  enter 


190  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

high  school  at  or  before  fifteen  years  of  age,  and 
thirty  per  cent,  before  fourteen,  we  can  see  that 
the  ability  of  these  children  is  decidedly  above  the 
average  of  elementary-school  ability.  At  least 
sixty-four  per  cent,  have  been  ranked  by  previous 
teachers  as  successful  scholars  and  the  thirty  per 
cent,  who  entered  under  fourteen  years  were  cer- 
tainly decidedly  above  the  average  according  to  the 
standards  of  the  elementary  schools.  Thus,  while 
about  one  in  every  twenty-three  of  elementary- 
school  children  gain  special  promotions,  one  in 
three  of  those  who  come  to  the  high  schools  have 
apparently  gained  one  or  more  of  such  promo- 
tions. ( i ) 

The  number  -of  early  entrants  into  high  school  is 
not  so  large  in  Iowa  City  as  in  New  York, 
Percentages  of  especially  when  we  take  into  ac- 

early  entrants  count  the  earlier  average  entrance 

of  these  children  into  the  primary  school,  but  it 
is  still  large  enough  to  be  significant.  The  group 
in  this  latter  city  that  entered  before  fifteen,  the 
normal  age  of  entrance,  constituted  fifty-four  per 
cent,  of  the  total,  and  of  these,  something  over 
nineteen  per  cent,  entered  even  before  fourteen. 
These  children,  approximately  one  in  five  of  all 
who  entered,  were  thus  marked  by  their  grade 
teachers,  through  special  promotions,  as  of  more 
than  average  ability. 

Such,  then,  is  the  status  of  these  children  as 
they  enter  high  school.     The  interesting  question 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS     191 

Their  subsequent  now  arises  as  to  the  subsequent 
records  what?  records   made   by   them   in   their 

high-school  work.  Is  there  any  relation  between 
entering  age  and  the  pupil's  likelihood  of  finishing 
his  course?  Is  there  any  relation  between  his  en- 
tering age  and  his  subsequent  high-school  scholar- 
ship? The  first  question  can  be  answered  definitely 
and  it  throws  considerable  light  on  the  second  ques- 
tion which  can  not  be  answered  so  fully. 

In  general,  it  was  found,  in  both  Iowa  and  New 
York,  that  a  larger  proportion  of  the  earlier  en- 

_    .  trants  finished  than  of  the  later 

Early  entrance  -it 

favorable  to  entrants.      Thus,    111    the    Iowa 

graduation  school  studied>  ft  was  f01md  that 

a  much  larger  proportion  of  the  group  which  en- 
tered high  school  between  twelve  and  thirteen  fin- 
ished in  four  years  than  in  the  case  of  any  other 
older  entering  group;  forty-six  per  cent,  of  them 
finishing  on  time  while  of  those  entering  between 
thirteen  and  fourteen,  forty  per  cent,  made  normal 
progress  and  finished  in  four  years;  thirty-two  per 
cent,  of  the  fourteen-year-olds ;  twenty-two  per  cent. 
of  the  fifteen-year  group;  thirteen  per  cent,  of  the 
sixteen-year  group,  and  nine  per  cent,  of  the  sev- 
enteen-year group.  On  the  other  hand  the  percent- 
age of  pupils  dropping  out  increases  rapidly  as  the 
age  of  entrance  increases,  starting  with  twenty- 
seven  per  cent,  in  the  youngest  group  and  running 
up  as  high  as  seventy-nine  per  cent,  in  the  sixteen- 
year-old  group. 


192 


THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 


80- 


70- 


50 


40 


30- 


20' 


'10 


Q.    0 


79  i 


On  time, 
Accelerated, 
Retarded,    - 
Eliminated, 


Ll6i. 


,-ij 


4&1> 


,-StJ 


40* 


32  ?S 


-i?2j 


195* 


22^6 


13* 


10* 


13* 


4* 


8j 


2* 


Ages. 


12 


13 


10 


17 


14         15 

Figure  8 

Graphical  showing  of  the  percentages  of  1033 
Iowa  City  High  School  pupils  of  different  entering  ages, 
from  12  to  17  inclusive,  who  were  accelerated,  retarded, 
eliminated,  or  graduated  on  time;  i.e.,  in  four  years. 


Figure  8  shows  the  relative  numbers  of  normal, 
accelerated,  retarded  and  eliminated  pupils  for  each 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS     193 


More  ready 
adjustment  by 
younger  pupils 


entering  age  group.  The  facts 
presented  to  the  eye  by  this  figure 
are  certainly  sufficiently  impress- 
ive. They  show,  at  least  as  far  as  eleven  and  a 
half  years'  experience  in  this  high  school  are  con- 
cerned, that  the  younger  pupils  adjust  themselves 
more  readily  to  the  high-school  regime  and,  being 
adjusted  to  it,  do  the  work  more  successfully  than 
do  the  older  pupils.  We  can  not  tell  just  what 
relationship  physiological  maturity  or  immaturity 
bore  to  the  varying  success  of  the  younger  and 
older  pupils  in  the  classes  above  studied ;  but  it  is 
fortunately  possible  to  give  the  actual  distribution 
of  degrees  of  maturity  of  a  single  ninth  grade 
class  which  entered  this  school  after  the  twenty- 
three  classes  represented  by  Figure  8  were  studied. 
The  following  table  shows  the  age  groups  repre- 
sented in  this  class,  with  the  number  in  each  group 
who  are  immature,  maturing  and  mature. 

TABLE  XXIV 

DISTRIBUTION    OF    DEGREES    OF    MATURITY    IN    THE    VARIOUS    AGE 

CROUPS  OF  A  NINTH  GRADE  CLASS  IN  THE 

IOWA  CITY  HIGH   SCHOOL 

(Left-hand  numbers  in  each  pair  denote  boys) 


AGES 

IMMATURE 

MATURING 

MATURE 

TOTALS 

12 

1 
1 

7 

1 
1 

1 

6 

24 

14 

11 

6 

2 

13     .... 

14 

15 

4 
3 

3 
3 

1 

14 

13 

10 

6 

2 

17 

21 

5 

2 

1 

3 

20 
21 

16 

5 

17 

2 

18 

1 

Totals. 

7 

11 

6 

46 

46 

64 

52 

194 


THE    HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 


The  distribution  shown  in  the  above  table  is 
probably  typical  of  all  recent  classes.  It  will  be 
Maturity  distribu-  seen  that  the  number  of  immature 
tion  of  one  class  individuals  in  this  class  is  com- 
paratively small,  about  six  per  cent.,  and  that  of 
the  maturing  and  mature  groups,  forty-six  per  cent., 
are  under  fifteen  years  of  age.  If  this  class  is 
really  typical  of  the  previous  twenty-three,  we  may 


30 


18 
16 
14 
12 

S  io 

bJ)    8 

I     6 

<h      4 

a  2 

ID 

0_      0 


/  s 

'-A 

1       1 

iV 

I 

1       1 

i  \ 

\ 

1      1 

i  \ 

1 

i j 

! 

1 

i 

\ 

I 

i 

i 

1 

1 

kQ| 

m 

1 

1 

-1 

m 

/    ( 

: 

«=| 

sl\ 

/   / 

=5 

4\ 

+ 

/  / 

a>| 

a>| 

v  T\ 

' 

s| 

2j 

^    V 

■  -/-?' 

.   J 

1 

i\ 

»— -, 

'--- 

11      12 

Ages. 


18      19       20      21 


14      15       16       17 

Figure  9. 
Distribution  of  the  entering  ages  of  the 

graduates. .and  non-graduates > 

of  23^classes  in  the  Iowa  City  High  School 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS     195 

infer  that  the  large  number  of  early  entrants  who 
graduated  in  these  classes  consisted  mostly  of  early 
maturing  children.  It  is  not  likely,  at  least,  that 
the  success  of  the  younger  pupils  represented  in 
Figure  8  was  due  to  any  great  degree  of  immaturity, 
for  the  probability  is  that  very  few  of  them  were 
physiologically  immature. 

The  single  fact  that  those  who  graduate  in  this 
school  form,  on  the  whole,  a  younger  class  of  chil- 
dren  than   the    non-graduates   is 
you^gr'oup3       shown  by  Figure  9.     While  the 

than  the  non-  median  age  of  all  entrants  was 

graduates  .         ,  ,  , 

found  to  be  14.9  years,  the  me- 
dian age  of  those  who  remained  to  graduate  was 
14.6  years  and  of  those  who  dropped  out  without 
graduating,  15.5  years. 

This  same  superiority  of  the  younger  over  the 
older  children  in  the  expectancy  of  their  complet- 
Similar  data  from  ™g  the  high-school  course  was 
New  York  found  by  Van  Denburg  to  obtain 

among  the  one  thousand  New  York  City  children 
whose  histories  he  studied  in  detail.  He  found, 
for  instance,  that  of  those  who  entered  under  four- 
teen almost  twice  as  many  remained  to  finish  as 
of  those  who  entered  at  fifteen  or  over. 

The  following  table  presents  for  easy  compari- 
son the  facts  for  these  nearly  equal  groups  in  Iowa 
and  in  New  York. 


196  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

TABLE  XXV 

COMPARATIVE  GRADUATION   EXPECTANCY  OF  THE  VARIOUS 
ENTERING  AGES  IN  IOWA  AND  IN  NEW  YORK 

Iowa  New  York 
12-13    65%  23% 

13-14    50%  19% 

14-15    39%  10% 

15-16    29%  6.5% 

16-17    17%  3.5% 

The  downward  trend  of  the  percentage  as  the  entering  ages 
increase  is  the  significant  fact  of  the  above  figures  for  both 
localities.  Incidentally  it  is  also  interesting  to  note  how  much 
larger  is  the  proportion  of  western  children  who  graduate  on 
time. 

On  looking  over  this  table  we  may  say  with  Van 
Denburg  that,  "as  far  as  age  js  concerned,  thirteen 

The  ideal  age  of         is   the   ideal   aSe    for   high-school 
high-school  entrance"  or  even  between  twelve 

entrance 

and  thirteen.  Connecting  this 
rinding  with  our  earlier  discussions  as  to  the  physi- 
ological and  mental  changes  of  the  earlier  half  of 
the  teens,  we  may  conclude  that  these  changes  are, 
on  the  whole,  unsettling  and  that  the  child  who 
can  make  the  transition  from  the  grammar  school 
to  the  high  school  early  is  more  likely  to  get  ad- 
justed to  the  conditions  he  finds  there  and  finish 
the  course  than  one  who  enters  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  mental  changes  that  are  likely  to  occur  at 
fourteen  and  fifteen.  Moreover,  inasmuch  as  the 
period  of  rapid  physical  development  begins  for 
most  children  before  fourteen,  these  figures  seem 
to  confirm  the  assertion  made  in  Chapter  III,  that 
the  physical  changes  that  occur  early  do  not  in 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS     197 

themselves  usually  lessen  the  child's  school  ability, 
while  the  mental  readjustments  which  follow  the 
physical  changes  have  a  decided  tendency  to  un- 
settle the  pupil. 

Whatever  the  immediate  causes  may  be  of  the 
dropping  out  of  the  older  entrants,  we  should  not 
Period  of  mental       at  least  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 

TrenT munfa-P"  theSC  pUpiIS  Hre'  at  the  Very  be~ 
vorable  for  ginning  of  their  course,  undergo- 

f  ntrfinrp  • 

ing  more  or  less  profound 
changes,  intellectual  and  emotional,  and  that  these 
changes  in  inner  attitude  can  not  fail  to  influence 
them  in  definite  ways  toward  their  studies,  toward 
immediate  social  matters  and  toward  the  multitude 
of  general  social  and  economic  influences  in  their 
local  environments.  The  boy  who  enters  on  his 
high-school  course  when  he  is  in  the  throes  of  the 
"new  birth"  into  the  social  world,  or  when  he  is 
gripped  by  the  intense  longing  for  "larger  things," 
when  he  begins  to  feel  the  impatient  vague  idealism 
of  the  middle  teens,  or  when  he  is  absorbingly  in- 
terested in  his  girl  associates,  and  is,  above  all, 
eager  for  adventure  and  to  play  a  "man's  part"  in 
the  world,  such  a  boy  will  yield  himself  unwillingly 
to  the  narrow  round  of  school  tasks  with  their  ex- 
acting requirements.  He  will  inevitably  find  him- 
self "looking  over  the  edge  of  his  school  work," 
wishing  for  his  real  life  to  begin.  He  will,  if  he 
is  an  average  boy,  grasp  at  almost  any  pretext  to 
quit  school. 


198 


THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 


We  do  not  believe,  however,  that  there  could  not 
be  a  school  which  would  hold  the  majority  of  boys 


Present  high 
schools  not  well 
adjusted  to  needs 
of  older  pupils 


and  girls   in  their  middle  teens. 


,We  only  know  that,  at  present, 
the  work  of  the  first  two  years 
of  high  school  is  not  well  adapted 
to  retaining  the  boys  of  fourteen  and  fifteen  who 
enter  in  large  numbers  at  these  ages.     It'  is  likely, 


66 
60 

40 

30 

20 

56$ 

ui 

~L<jiJ 

III 



0.2f 

6tf 

li 

L+fG 

(Utf 

0.2  $ 

II 

Years 


2'/4 


VA 


ey. 


Figure  10. 

Distribution  of  491  Iowa  City  pupils  as  to 
actual  time  spent  to  complete  the  High  School 
course. 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS    199 

since  the  twelve  and  thirteen  year  olds  "stick"  bet- 
ter, that  the  subjects  and  methods  of  teaching  are 
better  adapted  to  their  needs  than  to  the  needs  of 
their  older  classmates. 

It  is  possible  also  that  the  greater  success  shown 
by  these  younger  pupils  is  due  to  their  greater  na- 
tive ability,  which  they  show  themselves  to  possess 
by  the  very  fact  of  their  earlier  entrance.  If  this 
fact  lies  nearer  to  the  real  cause  of  their  greater 
success,  we  should  have  to  say  that  it  indicates 
that  the  work  of  the  high  schools  is  pitched  on 
too  high  a  plane  for  the  boys  and  girls  of  average 
ability  to  succeed  with  it.  In  any  case  there  is 
lack  of  adjustment  either  to  the  average  age  or 
to  the  average  ability  of  the  high-school  pupil  as 
we  find  him  in  our  schools  at  present. 

Another   graph,    Figure    10,   may  be   presented, 

not,  however,  bearing  on  the  question  of  age  and 

_.  success  in  school,  but  answering 
Time  spent  to 

complete  high-  the   question  as  to   how   long   a 

school  course  ^  those  whQ  actually  graduate 

take  to  complete  the  high-school  course.  It  will 
be  seen  that  the  range  of  time  is  from  two  and 
one-half  to  seven  years;  the  most  common  time 
being,  of  course,  four  years.  The  amount  of  vari- 
ation from  this  time  is,  however,  significant.  There 
are  no  corresponding  figures  in  the  New  York 
study. 

Thus  far,  in  this  chapter,  we  have  confined  our 
attention  to  the  influence  of  age  of  entrance  into 


200  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

Quality  of  work  of     WSh  Sch°o1  on  later  SUCCeSS>  this 
the  graduates  and     being  measured  solely  in  terms  of 

graduation  in  four  years.  The 
quality  of  work  done  by  these  pupils  has  not  other- 
wise been  considered.  The  question  now  arises — 
do  these  pupils  who  stay  in  and  finish  do  any  higher 
grade  of  work  than  those  who  drop  out?  Is  the 
dropping  out  related  to  a  lower  grade  of  work, 
or  do  the  eliminated  pupils  while  in  school  do  as 
well  as  those  who  remain  to  finish?  We  should 
hardly  suppose,  to  start  with,  that  the  eliminated 
pupils  would  be  high-grade  pupils.  If  their  work 
is  inferior,  however,  we  should  not  conclude  that 
lack  of  ability  to  do  the  work  is  the  sole  cause  of 
their  stopping  school.  This  poor  work  might  be 
due  in  part  to  their  greater  interest  in  things  out- 
side of  school.  These  two  factors  we  are  not  here 
able  to  separate.  They  are  probably  always  opera- 
tive together,  the  one  augmenting  the  other.  A 
greater  absorption  in  things  outside  of  school  will 
make  even  a  bright  boy  neglect  studies.  Inferior 
success  in  his  studies  will  still  further  reduce  his 
interest  in  them.  On  the  other  hand,  the  duller 
boy  who  finds  he  does  not  get  on  well  in  school 
will  turn  his  attention  to  things  outside.  All  in- 
quiries into  the  quality  of  work  of  graduates  and 
non-graduates  unite  in  the  finding  that  the  latter 
group  is,  as  a  whole,  inferior  to  the  former;  but 
they  do  not  show  how  far  this  inferiority  is  due 
to  lack  of  ability  and  how  far  to  "other  interests." 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS    201 


It  is  true  that  there  is  a  suggestion  that  the  poor 
work  of  the  non-graduates  is  due,  in  a  measure, 
to  lack  of  ability,  in  the  fact  that  the  graduates 
usually  possess  a  higher  ability  to  start  with  as 
indicated  by  their  earlier  entrance;  but,  even  so, 
the  ability  is  of  that  somewhat  narrow  range  which 
is  tested  by  school  standards.  We  know  that  much 
general  capacity  may  fail  to  be  detected  through 
the  record  of  the  pupil  at  school  tasks. 


^ 


bil 


48< 

3f?S 

__ 

JL 

aft 

! 

2G^ 

13* 

III* 

_6f 

7* 

6? 

1 
1 

100    —      »5      —     85       — 

Grades. 


—   70—  below. 


Figure  1 1. 

Distribution  of  grades  made  by  1042 
high  school  pupils. 

Graduates. 

Non-graduates. 


202  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

In  the  following  paragraphs  we  present  the  re- 
sults of  typical  studies  on  the  relation  of  quality  of 
work  to  elimination. 

The  study  of  the  records  of  the  one  thousand 
forty-two  pupils  of  the  Iowa  City  High  School, 
Illustration  previously    referred    to,    showed 

from  Iowa  that  the  non-graduates  were  in- 

ferior in  scholarship  to  the  graduates.  The  facts 
are  presented  in  Figure  II,  and  require  little  further 
comment.  Only  one-third  of  the  highest  grades, 
ninety-five  to  one  hundred,  belonged  to  the  non- 
graduates.  Two-fifths,  only,  of  the  grades,  from 
eighty-five  to  ninety-five,  belonged  to  those  who 
dropped  out.  Nearly  an  equal  number  of  grades, 
from  seventy  to  eighty-five,  were  made  by  both 
groups,  while  the  grades  below  seventy,  the  passing 
mark,  were  recorded  for  non-graduates  more  than 
four  times  as  frequently  as  for  the  graduates. 

While  these  figures  show  that  the  non-graduates 
did,  on  the  whole,  work  inferior  to  the  graduates, 
they  show  also  that  a  large  number  of  the  non-grad- 
uates did  average  and  some  even  superior  work. 

Van  Denburg  had  his  group  of  one  thousand 
New  York  pupils  rated  by  their  teachers  as  to 
Illustration  from  ability,  industry  and  results.  This 
New  York  rating  was  done  soon  after  they 

entered  on  their  first  semester's  work  in  their 
various  high  schools,  (i  J 

One-half  of  the  pupils,  ranked  as  high,  average 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS     203 

and  low  from  these  three  points  of  view,  remained 
in  high  school  as  follows : 

High  Average  Low 

Ability   3     years  V/>  years  Yz  year 

Industry    3 J^  years  \lA  years  1    year 

Results    3     years  V/2  years  1   year 

It  was  also  found  that  the  average  standing,  or 
mark,  made  by  these  pupils  in  their  first  term's 
work,  bore  an  important  relation  to  the  likelihood 
of  their  continuing  in  school.  For  instance,  one- 
half  of  all  who  made  an  average  grade  of  less  than 
fifty  per  cent,  left  before  the  beginning  of  their 
second  half-year. 

The  median  expectancy  of  the  various  grades  of 
pupils,  according  to  their  first  term's  average  mark, 
is  summarized  in  the  following  figures: 


1st  Term's  Marks 

0-49% 

J^year 

50-59% 

1     year 

60-69% 

\l/2  years 

70-79% 

2l/2  years 

80-100% 

4     years 

This  study  does  not  give  any  data  as  to  the  later 
marks  made  by  these  pupils ;  but  it  is  significant  that 
the  first  records  made  by  them,  and  their  first  im- 
pressions on  their  teachers,  forecast  so  definitely 
their  later  school  history.  If  these  standings  rep- 
resent with  approximate  fairness  the  later  grades, 
we  can  say  that  here,  also,  there  is  a  distinct  tend- 


204  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

ency  for  the  eliminated  pupils  to  be  of  inferior 
scholarship. 

A   study   by   Johnson   of   the    grades    in    Eng- 
lish,   Latin,    mathematics    and    history    made    by 

Evidence  from  PUPils  °f  hiSh  Schools  in  Chicago 

Chicago  and  and    Kansas    City,    revealed    the 

same  tendency,  namely,  lower 
grades  on  the  whole  for  the  eliminated  pupils,  the 
percentage  of  elimination  increasing  steadily  as  the 
grades  became  lower.  This  tendency  was  less 
marked  in  the  case  of  four  small  schools  investi- 
gated by  Johnson,  the  pupils  who  left  being  more 
evenly  distributed  among  all  grades  of  proficiency. 
It  is  possible,  as  Johnson  says,  that  this  is  because 
the  small  high  school  provides  opportunity  for  more 
individual  attention  to  poorer  pupils  so  that  they 
are  less  likely  to  become  discouraged  and  quit. (2) 
We  are,  ourselves,  inclined  to  doubt  that  the 
better  showing  of  small  schools  in  keeping  their 

Is  the  small  PUpils  is  due  t0  an^  suPeriority  of 

school  really  these   schools    in   the   matter  of 

superior.  handling  their  pupils.    It  is  rather 

because  the  conditions  generally  in  small  com- 
munities are  more  favorable  than  in  larger  ones  to 
continuing  in  school.  More  inferior  pupils  remain 
to  graduate  because  it  is  apt  to  be  the  understanding 
in  a  small  town  that  practically  every  one  who  re- 
mains steadfast  to  the  end  of  the  course  will  receive 
a  diploma.  It  is  very  hard,  in  such  communities, 
where  the  teachers  are  fairly  well  known  to  most 


THE    RELATION    OF    SUCCESS    205 

of  the  parents,  actually  to  fail  any  pupils  who  are 
just  below  the  border  line  of  passing.  Only  very 
extreme  cases  are  likely  to  suffer  loss  of  the  diploma. 
It  thus  happens  that  larger  percentages  of  inferior 
pupils  in  small  schools  will  be  passed  <  n  the  basis  of 
very  inferior  work  than  is  apt  to  be  the  case  in 
larger  schools. 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text: 

( 1 )  Van    Denburg,    J.    K.,    The    Elimination    of 

Pupils    From    Public    Secondary    Schools, 
New  York,  191 1. 

(2)  Johnson,    G.    R.,    Qualitative   Elimination    in 

High  Schools,  School  Review,  18  :68o. 

References  for  further  reading  and  study: 

Huling,  R.  G.,  Failures  in  the  First  Year  High 
School,  Educational  Review,  20:463. 

Lurton,  E.  E.,  The  Disintegration  of  a  Nigh-School 
Class,  School  Review,  19:680. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    ADAPTATION    OF    THE    HIGH    SCHOOL    TO    THE 
NEEDS  OF   ITS    PUPILS 

GREATER  efficiency  in  our  schools  is  prob- 
ably the  motive  of  every  honest  discussion 
of  educational  problems.     This  study  of  the  high- 

„  ~  .  school  pupil  is  no  exception.    The 

Greater  efficiency  . 

the  aim  of  our  material  here  presented  would  be 

stu  y  of  small  value  for  the  satisfaction 

of  mere  idle  curiosity;  but  to  one  who  feels  keenly 
the  need  of  better  results  in  our  educational  efforts 
with  the  boys  and  girls,  this  description  of  the 
high-school  pupil  may  suggest  a  number  of  adap- 
tations on  the  part  of  the  school. 

The  question  of  how  the  school  may  be  adjusted 
to  secure  the  best  results  educationally  is,  of  course, 
the  whole  of  the  educational  problem.  The  aim 
of  this  chapter,  however,  is  far  less  ambitious.  Its 
object  is  to  select  a  few  of  the  more  obvious 
ways  in  which  the  school  must  needs  adjust  its  plan 
of  work  to  the  boys  and  girls  as  it  finds  them  in 
these  adolescent  years.  This  is  not  a  suggestion 
that  the  school  yield  any  of  its  fine  ideals  to  the 

206 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  207 

weakness  of  the  flesh,  but  rather  that  it  connect  up 

its  efforts  with  the  children  as  they  really  are. 

It  is  fairly  clear  that  accurate  knowledge  of  the 

high-school    pupil,     physical,    mental     and     social, 

,   ,       ,        should  precede  all  theories  of  how 
A  knowledge  of  l 

the  pupil  pre-  he    should    be    educated.      Upon 

requisite  sfac&i  knowledge,  more  than  upon 

anything  else,  does  an  effective  high  school  depend. 
Obvious  as  this  may  be  when  one  stops  to  reflect  a 
moment,  it  is  often  lost  sight  of  by  intelligent 
people.  An  efficient  high  school  is  apt  to  be  con- 
ceived in  terms  of  the  excellence  of  its  buildings, 
laboratories,  libraries  and  even  of  its  scholarly 
teachers.  These  factors  are  of  importance,  but 
their  importance  is  not  intrinsic.  An  efficient  high 
school  is  rather  the  one  which  is  successful  in  hold- 
ing its  pupils;  in  fostering  therewith  proper  life 
ideals  and  in  developing  suitable  habits  of  living. 
In  a  word,  its  worth  is  to  be  measured  entirely  by 
the  degree  in  which  it  can  actually  bring  to  the 
pupils  as  a  whole  a  training  which  will  continue  to 
function  in  a  vital  way  in  their  lives  after  they  leave 
the  high  school. 

Such  a  training  as  this  is  the  result,  in  part,  of 
the  studies  which  the  children  take;  in  part,  of 
the  material  equipment  accessory  to  these  studies. 
But  it  is  even  more  dependent  on  certain  intimate 
adaptations  to  the  physical,  mental  and  social  char- 
acteristics of  the  pupil  during  the  time  he  is  in 
high  school. 


208  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

Among  these  adaptations  there  are,  first  of  all, 
those  which  aim  to  secure  the  least  wasteful  adjust- 
Adaptations  ment  between  the  school  and  the 

needed  entering     pupil.       The     heaviest 

elimination  occurs  in  the  first  year  and  in  the  first 
part  of  that  year.  Physiological  age,  or  degree  of 
physical  maturity,  has,  as  we  have  seen,  an  impor- 
tant bearing  on  this  adjustment.  Mature  pupils 
in  high  school  do  better  work  than  the  immature. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  earlier  maturing  chil- 
dren, as  is  seen  by  the  fact  that  those  who  enter  be- 
fore fourteen  are  more  likely  to  graduate  than 
those  who  enter  later. 

The  changing  mental  attitudes  of  the  teens  are 

also  vitally  related  to  success,  both  at  the  beginning 

and    throughout    the    high-school 
The  mental  atti-  .    ,  t    .  .  ,     • 

tudes  of  the  pu-         period.    As  we  have  seen,  the  at- 

pilsmustbe  titudes  of  the  mature  boy  or  girl 

considered  .  ,,..,. 

toward    authority    and    discipline 

are  essentially  different  from  those  of  little  boys 
and  girls.  Their  intellectual  interests  are  in  proc- 
ess of  change;  their  moral  sense  is  developing; 
their  social  nature  is  expanding.  All  of  these  are 
factors  which  complicate  the  work  of  the  high 
school.  They  make  it  the  more  difficult  for  the 
pupil  to  adjust  himself  to  the  work  which  lies  be- 
fore him. 

Let  us  assume,  here,  that  the  work  itself — that 
is,  the  studies — are  what  they  should  be,  and  we 
do  not  imply  that  they  are  not.    Let  us  simply  con- 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  209 

fine  our  attention  to  the  means  which  have  been 
used  to  help  the  pupil  fit  himself  with  the  greatest 
economy  to  this  work. 

As  was  brought  out  in  Chapter  IX,  "The  High- 
School    Period    in    Retrospect,"    pupils    experience 

The  pupils'  diffi-  m°rC  °r.leSS  difficulty  in  gettinS 
culty  in  get-  started    into   high    school.     They 

ting  started  often  find  themselves  submerged 

in  a  large  and  unfamiliar  group  of  children  at  an 

age  when  many  are  peculiarly  sensitive  to  the  matter 

of  associates.     Their  teachers  are  strange  and  they 

often  find  it  hard  to  know  them  personally  as  they 

knew  their  elementary  teachers.     They  are  thrown 

more  on  their  own  responsibility  both  as  to  time  and 

method  in  the  getting  of  their  lessons.    The  studies 

themselves  present  new  difficulties.    They  are  quite 

different  from  those  which  have  occupied  the  pupils 

in  their  previous  school  work.    The  books  are  often 

hard  to  read  or  hard  to  comprehend.    The  aims  of 

the  work   seem  different,   the   standards  different, 

the  teachers  different,  and  the  pupils  themselves  are 

different,  although  they  do  not  know  it.    Obviously, 

there  must  be  careful  guiding  or  many  of  the  pupils 

will  get  little  good  out  of  the  work,  if  they  do  not, 

in  their  discouragement,  even  drop  it  altogether. 

It  appears  from  the  chapter  cited  in  the  preceding 

paragraph,  that  there  is  the  greatest  need  for  the 

„  ,  . .  .  ,,  development  of  a  friendly  ac- 
Need  of  friendly  l  . 

relations  with  quaintance    between    pupils    and 

teachers  teachers.      Probably   there   is   no 


2ib  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

one  thing  which  high-school  pupils  think  more  about 
than  their  relation  to  their  teachers.  They  are 
keenly  sensitive  of  their  teachers'  attitudes  toward 
them,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  work  of  these 
pupils  is  definitely  influenced  for  better  or  worse 
by  the  way  they  regard  their  teachers  and  by  the 
way  they  imagine  their  teachers  regard  them.  At 
no  stage  in  a  child's  school  life  is  his  relation  to  his 
teachers  so  important  as  in  the  teens.  Conse- 
quently, all  those  means  which  can  be  used  to  cul- 
tivate friendly  relations,  respect  and  confidence  be- 
tween pupils  and  teachers  will  do  much  toward 
carrying  the  pupil  through  the  critical  first  year  of 
his  high-school  life. 

Many  high  schools  have  adopted  various  types  of 
advisory  systems   to   meet  these  needs.      We   are 

frank  to  say  that  we  believe  some 
Advisory  systems  ,  ...... 

scheme  of  this  kind,  systematic- 
ally carried  out,  is  of  the  utmost  importance  for 
every  truly  successful  high  school.  As  some  one 
has  said,  an  advisory  system  is  a  means  of  restoring 
the  personal  element  in  the  relation  of  the  school 
to  the  pupil.  Strange  that  we  should  ever  have  let 
ourselves  lose  anything  so  vital  as  this  in  adolescent 
education! 

A  recent  investigation  of  advisory  systems  in 
high  schools  in  the  United  States(i)  brought  to 
light  much  interesting  effort  on  the  part  of  many 
schools,  and  also  revealed  the  fact  that  a  large  num- 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  211 

ber  of  schools  are  doing  nothing  of  a  definite  char- 
acter along  this  line. 

It  would  seem  that  the  high  school  would  be 
greatly  helped  in  its  effort  to  help  the  pupil  get  ad- 
justed to  the  new  conditions  if  it 
pSiSnaryh!-  should  secure  from  the  grammar 
formation  regard-  school  a  rather  complete  report  of 
s  the    pupil's     record    there;     not 

merely  his  record  as  a  pupil  but  a  statement  of  such 
personal  traits  as  would  be  of  value  to  the  high- 
school  principal  and  teachers  in  their  first  contact 
with  him.  A  majority  of  the  schools  reporting  re- 
ceive no  such  preliminary  information,  and,  of  those 
receiving  it,  scarcely  more  than  one-half  receive 
more  than  the  bare  scholastic  record  of  the  pupils' 
work  in  the  lower  school.  About  two-thirds  only 
attempt,  after  the  entrance  of  the  pupil,  "to  get  from 
him  or  his  parent  any  personal  history  which  would 
assist  the  high  school  in  giving  wise  educational, 
vocational  or  personal  advice." 

As  this  investigator  well  says:  "If  the  ante- 
cedents of  blooded  live  stock  are  of  such  importance 
as  to  justify  all  the  pains  taken  to  know  the  pedigree 
of  the  animals,  it  would  seem  that  the  high  school, 
with  the  help  of  the  grammar  school,  should  do 
more  than  these  returns  indicate  to  know  what  kind 
of  animals  or  human  beings  it  is  taking  under  train- 
ing."    (Condensed.) 

It  is  not  strange,  with  this  large  neglect  to  se- 


212  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

cure  information  about  the  pupil,  that  only  about 
sixty  per  cent,  of  all  schools  reported  any  definite 
advisory  relations  between  each  pupil  and  some  par- 
ticular teacher. 

The  function  of  the  adviser  is,  as  was  said  above, 
to  preserve,  or  perhaps  even  to  restore,  the  per- 

_.    ,  ,        sonal  element  in  the  school.    The 

The  function  of 

the  high-school  degree  in  which  this  end  is  at- 
adviser  tained  varies  greatly  in  different 

schools  maintaining  advisers.  "The  advisership 
runs  all  the  way  from  purely  routine  oversight,  rec- 
ord keeping  and  ordinary  discipline  ....  to  the  most 
intimate  and  exacting  personal,  friendly  relations 
with  responsibility  placed  upon  the  adviser  for  all 

phases  of  the  pupil's  relations  to  the  school " 

The  varying  quality  of  the  advisory  work  can  also 
be  judged  by  the  number  of  pupils  assigned  to  a 
teacher.  Where  this  number  is  given  as  twenty- 
five  or  thirty,  one  would  expect  rather  effective 
oversight  for,  as  one  principal  writes,  "Out  of  thirty 
assigned  to  a  teacher,  not  more  than  five  or  six  take 
any  great  amount  of  time."(iX  But  where  the 
number  of  pupils  in  charge  of  one  person  runs  up 
into  the  hundreds,  we  can  easily  see  that  the  ad- 
visory work  will  be  quite  casual  and  superficial. 

All  of  our  preceding  study  has  emphasized  how 
much  the  high-school  pupil  stands  in  need  of  whole- 

«.  .  .  r  ,  some  adult  influence  and  counsel. 
Relation  of  the 

adviser  to  the  The  parent  should  be  the  youth  s 

parent  first  a(jviser>  but  even  where  the 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  213 

relation  of  parent  and  child  is  ideal,  advice  which 

the  parent  is  only  partly  qualified  to  give  is  often 

needed  regarding  school  relationships.     After  all, 

it  is  not  so  much  the  advice  that  is  of  importance 

as  the  personal  relationship  and  interest  lying  back 

of  it.    This  is  what  the  high-school  pupil  needs  both 

at  home  and  in  school,  and  any  amount  of  wise 

personal  influence  at  home  will  not  compensate  for 

the  lack  of  it  at  school.     In  the  high-school  pupils' 

reminiscences,  quoted  in  a  preceding  chapter,  it  is 

shown  clearly  how  pupils  miss  the  spirit  of  friendly 

interest  and  advice  if  it  is  not  present.    There  can 

be  no  question  but  that  better  work  is  done  for 

those  teachers  and  in  those  schools  where  kindly 

and  helpful  relations  between  teachers  and  pupils 

have  been   fostered.     No  one  element  stands  out 

more   distinctly  than  this   in   the   accounts   which 

young  folks  give  of  their  life  in  high  school. 

The  adviser  does  not,  then,  seek  to  supplant  the 

parent  adviser  where  such  a  one  exists.     His  aim 

,,  ,.  .        is  rather  to  throw  about  the  pupil 

Matters  m  which 

the  pupil  needs  in  his  school  life  an  atmosphere 
counsel  Q£  frjencjiy  interest  and  personal 

regard  which  will  stimulate  him  to  his  best  effort. 
The  entering  pupil  needs  discriminating  advice  as 
to  his  studies.  There  should  be  some  one  who 
makes  it  a  point  to  see  that  he  adjusts  himself  to 
the  high-school  regime  without  undue  friction.  He 
will  need  more  or  less  help  in  learning  how  to  study 
high-school  lessons  with  economy  and  effectiveness. 


214  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

As  he  proceeds  with  his  work  he  may  have  to  be 
reproved  or  disciplined,  or  he  may,  through  in- 
ability or  neglect,  be  unable  to  handle  his  school 
tasks.  In  every  such  instance  the  adviser  should 
be  the  first  person  to  talk  the  difficulty  over  with 
the  pupil,  and  in  many  cases  the  evidence  of  per- 
sonal interest  and  concern  shown  by  some  one 
teacher  is  all  that  is  needed  to  restore  him  to  a 
more  wholesome  frame  of  mind  or  to  a  more  thor- 
ough determination  to  do  better  work. 

If  the  adviser  keeps  the  same  group  of  pupils 
throughout  their  course,  he  will  have  opportunity 
to  study  them  carefully  and,  as  the  semesters  pass, 
he  will  find  himself  able  to  enter  more  and  more 
definitely  into  their  lives  and  give  them  wise  coun- 
sel. As  his  charges  reach  the  later  teens  he  will 
find  his  function  as  an  adviser  expanding  accord- 
ingly. All  sorts  of  intellectual,  personal,  vocational, 
social,  moral  and  even  religious  problems  will  be 
presented  by  his  pupils,  and  if  he  is  a  teacher  of 
any  sincerity  and  of  any  depth  of  character  he  will 
be  able  to  do  much  for  them  of  inestimable  value. 
In  the  investigation  referred  to  above,  one  principal 
reports  that  his  teachers  are  expected  in  three  or 
four  weeks  to  know  all  about  the  small  group  of 
twenty  or  thirty  pupils  assigned  to  them.  "They 
visit  homes  or  send  for  parents.  My  teachers  think 
that  this  takes  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
their  effort.     It  pays." 

The   successful   administration   of   an   advisory 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  215 

system  involves  careful  attention  to  a  number  of 
Some  problems  problems.  First  of  all  there  is 
of  administration  tjle  qUestj0n  of  whether  the  prin- 
cipal shall  be  able  to  be  the  sole  adviser  or  whether 
the  teachers  shall  assist  or  assume  the  duty;  in  this 
case,  what  should  be  the  relation  of  the  principal 
to  the  advisory  function?  Then  again,  how  large 
groups  shall  be  assigned  to  each  teacher,  and  how 
shall  the  teacher  proceed  to  give  his  services  ?  Shall 
it  be  made  to  appeal  to  the  pupil  as  quite  informal 
or  unofficial ;  it  not  being  announced  to  them  that 
they  have  been  assigned  to  the  charge  of  particular 
teachers,  or  shall  the  opposite  plan  prevail?  Shall 
the  advisers  be  especially  qualified  teachers,  relieved 
of  a  little  class  work,  or  had  they  best  be  persons 
regularly  employed  for  this  purpose,  and  doing  little 
or  no  teaching?  The  answers  to  these  questions 
depend  on  so  many  local  conditions  that  general 
answers  -would  here  be  unprofitable.  They  are 
offered  simply  as  things  a  principal  must  think  about 
in  developing  any  system  of  advisers. 

Perhaps  an  even  more  important  problem  than 
any  of  the  above  is  that  of  the  personality  of  the 
The  personality  teachers  who  are  to  perform  this 
of  the  adviser  service.     It  is  not  likely  that  any 

school  has  a  faculty  in  which  all  are  equally  well 
qualified  for  this  work,  and  yet  its  success  depends 
very  largely  on  the  types  of  teachers  who  are  asked 
to  undertake  it.  When  a  principal  has  decided  to 
inaugurate  such  a  system  he  must  carefully  con- 


2i 6  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

sider  which  of  his  teachers  are  able  to  do  the  work. 
From  Raymer's  study(i)  it  appeared  that  such 
qualities  as  judgment,  sense,  tact,  breadth,  balance, 
knowledge  of  the  world,  an  understanding  of  the 
child  and  knowledge  of  human  nature  are  more 
significant  than  mere  scholarship  or  personal  and 
moral  traits. 

If  acting  as  an  adviser  is  an  important  function 
of  the  teacher,  then  these  qualities  should  be  con- 
Should  teachers  sidered  in  his  appointment  and 
be  selected  on  promotion.     And  yet  how  largely 

this  basis?  .g  a  teacher>s  fitness  gaged  only 

by  his  scholastic  attainments  and  by  personal  ap- 
pearance! What  we  need  above  all  else  are  those 
who  can  be  real  teachers  of  boys  and  girls.  In  how 
many  high  schools  do  we  find  teachers  whose  every 
contact  with  their  pupils  is  depressing  and  discour- 
aging. Teachers  who  are  habitually  cross,  insin- 
cere, who  speak  cynically  of  life,  who  are  suspicious 
of  their  pupils,  who  have  forgot  that  they  them- 
selves were  ever  children,  teachers  who  are  cold, 
hard,  mechanical  sorts  of  beings. 

Even  if  it  be  contended  that  such  teachers  are  in 
the  minority,  it  is  a  shameful  commentary  on  our 
regard  for  the  needs  of  our  children  that  such 
people  are  kept  in  school  at  all.  The  public  must 
disabuse  its  mind  of  the  notion  that  the  schools  ex- 
ist for  the  good  of  the  teachers.  Unflinchingly 
the  standard  of  highest  efficiency  in  training  boys 
and  girls  must  be  upheld.     The  children  in  their 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  217 

teens  are  they  for  whom  the  schools  have  been  built 
and  equipped. 

The  teacher  of  adolescents  must  be  thoroughly 
interested  in  boys  and  girls ;  he  must  be  in  love  with 
life,  as  they  are.  If  he  has  found  life  hard,  he  must 
not  permit  that  to  embitter  him.  What  Miss  Slat- 
tery  says  of  the  woman  teacher  is  true  of  the  man 
as  well :  "The  fact  that  she  has  met  hardships 
and  conquered  them,  has  met  sorrow  and  it  has 
only  deepened  her  sympathy  and  broadened  her 
outlook  on  life,  makes  her  a  real  inspiration  to  the 
girls  who  meet  her "(2) 

The  following  sentences  out  of  a  personal  letter 
from  Mr.  Raymer  throw  interesting  light  on  the 
The  future  of  ad-  problem  of  advisers.  He  writes: 
visory  systems  «j  am  unable  to  see  a  very  high 

degree  of  efficiency  in  advisory  systems  until  the 
powers  in  control  are  willing  to  pay  the  price  for 
the  right  kind  of  teachers  with  time  to  do  the  work." 
And  further :  "The  success  of  any  advisory  sys- 
tem depends  so  much  on  the  attitude  of  the  principal 
of  the  school  that  I  am  inclined  to  look  for  results 
to  a  new  generation  of  high-school  principals  who 
shall  have  been  trained  for  their  work  in  modern 
schools  of  education,  and  who  shall  have  a  some- 
what different  idea  of  the  social  bearings  of  high- 
school  education  than  the  ideas  generally  held  by 

those  in  charge  to-day The  right  kind 

of  teachers  can  do  very  much  effective  advisory 
work  without  the  adoption  of  any  definite  system 


2i8  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

or  even  pronounced  policy  by  the  principal.  When 
such  teachers  become  principals,  advisory  efforts 
may  become  systematized  without  being  made  me- 
chanical, and  may  become  effective  without  being 
officious  or  offensive." 

Three  other  important  types  of  effort  to  adjust 
the  school  to  the  pupil  may  be  briefly  mentioned; 
Other  ad-  efforts  which  do  not  of  necessity 

justments  depend    on    an    advisory    system. 

They  are  these:  development  of  study  programs; 
supervised  study;  and  conference  hours. 

These,  as  will  be  seen  at  once,  are  all  attempts  to 
enable  the  student  to  handle  his  studies  more  effect- 
ively. Here  is  really  the  central  difficulty  with 
much  of  the  work  of  the  school.  Failure  to  be  in- 
terested in  the  work  or  to  do  it  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  teachers  is  the  opening  breach  in  the  wall  of 
many  a  high-school  student's  good  intentions.  If 
his  school  work  does  not  really  engage  his  attention 
and  grip  his  interest,  "other  things"  will,  and  a 
survey  of  our  high  schools  is  apt  to  give  one  the 
impression  that  it  is  the  "other  things"  rather  than 
what  the  pupils  are  supposedly  in  school  for  that 
are  tending  largely  to  absorb  their  energies. 

Many  discriminating  teachers  and  principals  are 
coming  to  believe  that  failure  in  work  is  quite  as 
much  due  to  lack  of  systematic,  intelligent  effort 
spent  in  study  as  to  lack  of  ability  to  do  the  work. 

One  principal  reports  good  results  through  the 
development  of  study  programs.    He  had  study  pro- 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  219 

_     ,  gram   cards    printed   with   direc- 

Study  programs 

tions   for   study,   and   each   pupil 

was  required  to  fill  it  out  and  follow  it  carefully. 

The  results  were  noticeable.     The  conduct  of  the 

pupils  improved,  considerable  gains  were  made  in 

scholarship,  more  systematic  habits  of  home  study 

were  built  up.  (3)' 

But  students  in  high  school  need  also  to  be  taught 
how  to  study.  It  has  been  found  that  many  pupils' 
Teaching  pupils  failure  to  get  their  lessons  is  due 
how  to  study  to    inattention    to    their    assign- 

ments or  perhaps  to  failure  to  comprehend  them. 
More  and  more,  high  schools  are  realizing  the  need 
of  pupils  doing  more  of  their  studying  at  school 
under  the  personal  supervision  of  the  various 
teachers.  This  necessitates  a  longer  school-day; 
but  that  should  not  be  injurious  to  children  in  their 
teens,  especially  if  the  getting  of  lessons  at  school 
leaves  them  freer  for  recreation  outside  of  school. 
For  detailed  accounts  of  what  some  schools  are  do- 
ing toward  the  development  of  supervised  study  in 
school,  the  reader  is  referred  to  articles  mentioned 
at  the  close  of  this  chapter.  (4,  5)" 

The  Pittsburgh  high  schools  report  a  development 
called  the  "Conference  Hour."  By  a  slight  readjust- 
The  "confer-  ment  among  the  studies  an  extra 

encehour"  hour  per  Week  was   secured   for 

certain  subjects.  No  assignments  were  made  for 
this  hour,  the  time  being  used  largely  in  attempts 
Xo  meet  individual   difficulties,   in  reviewing  hard 


220  THE    HIGH-SCHOOL    AGE 

points  and  in  discussing  and  illustrating  proper 
modes  of  study.  The  results  are  reported  as  very- 
gratifying.  (6) 

One  other  possible  adaptation  may  be  briefly  men- 
tioned. It  is  that  of  grouping  boys  and  girls  in 
The  problem  of  tne*r  middle  teens  in  separate 
coeducation  classes  or  sections.     Coeducation 

in  one  form  or  another  seems  to  be  the  settled 
policy  of  secondary  education  in  most  sections  of 
our  country.  The  old  arguments  against  coeduca- 
tion, namely,  that  the  girls  were  not  capable  of 
doing  the  work,  that  they  were  not  physically  strong 
enough  and  that  such  intimate  contact  of  the  sexes 
would  promote  early  marriages  or  endanger  the 
morals  of  boys  and  girls,  have  not  been  supported 
by  experience. 

However,  new  objections  against  coeducation 
have  arisen.  The  girls,  instead  of  being  less  capa- 
ble than  the  boys,  have  usually  proved  themselves 
able  to  do  better  work.  This  is  in  part  due  to  the 
fact  that  girls  in  high  school  are  further  developed 
both  physically  and  mentally  than  boys  of  the  same 
age.  Most  teachers  of  mixed  classes  find  the  girls 
more  ready  to  do  assigned  work  and  more  ready 
to  recite  in  class.  The  qualities  in  school  work 
which  exert  considerable  influence  on  grades,  girls, 
on  the  whole,  excel  in.  These  qualities  are  neat- 
ness, accuracy,  excellence  of  memory,  faithfulness 
in  preparation  of  lessons  and  readiness  to  recite. 
Boys   frequently  accuse  girls  of  simply  studying 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  221 

for  the  grades.  They  find  themselves  easily  out- 
distanced by  the  girls,  the  work  itself,  especially 
in  language,  literature  and  history,  is  almost  in- 
evitably presented  from  the  point  of  view  most 
interesting  to  the  girl,  the  method  of  the  recitation 
itself  is  adapted  to  the  more  responsive  girl.  Surely 
no  system  could  be  better  devised  to  render  boys 
disgruntled  with  their  work  or  to  furnish  them 
with  an  additional  incentive  to  quit  it  altogether. 
The  first  of  the  later  arguments  against  coed- 
ucation is,  then,  that  the  difference  in  maturity 
of  the  sexes,  age  for  age,  in  the 
difftrenceh^ma-  middle  teens  is  a  distinct  draw- 
turityofboys  back    to    tlieJr    being    taught    tO- 

and  girls  ,         .        ,  ,  A 

gether   in   the   same   classes.      A 

second  argument  against  it  also  has  some  weight. 
Coeducation  renders  difficult  the  suitable  differenti- 
ation of  studies  according  to  the  physical,  intel- 
lectual and  vocational  needs  of  each  sex.  A  third 
argument  is,  that  coeducation  prevents  the  develop- 
ment of  the  finer  feminine  qualities  in  the  girl 
and  the  more  virile  qualities  in  the  boy.  And 
fourthly,  that,  though  the  girl  may  endure  the  strain 
of  work  of  the  ordinary  coeducational  school,  her 
health  may  actually  be  impaired. 

We  shall  not  attempt  here  to  argue  for  or  against 
these  last  three  points.  The  first  point,  based  on 
the  girl's  greater  maturity,  is  sufficient  to  warrant 
a  reconstruction  of  our  whole  system  of  education 
for  the  middle  teens. 


222  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

Since  it  is  not  likely  that  any  scheme  of  entirely 
separate  education  will  ever  prove  generally  accept- 
A  possible  ad-  able  or  Practicable,  it  remains  to 

justmentin  be  seen  whether  some  adjustment 

can  be  made  to  the  situation  un- 
der existing  conditions.  Some  high-school  men  be- 
lieve that  the  problem  can  be  solved  in  a  large 
degree  by  means  of  boys'  and  girls'  sections  of 
the  same  class.  According  to  this  plan,  the  boys 
and  girls  attend  the  same  school,  mingle  together 
in  study  rooms  and  halls  but  recite  in  different 
sections. 

Principal  Armstrong  of  the  Englewood  High 
School  (Chicago),  after  several  years'  trial  of  this 

Differences  in  scheme  believes  it  a  most  desir- 

workofboys  able    adaptation.      He    contends 

that  there  are  marked  differences 
in  the  reaction  of  the  boys  and  girls  in  class  work. 
Girls  excel  in  verbal  memory,  in  all  sorts  of  lan- 
guage study,  in  written  work  done  outside  of  class ; 
boys  are  keener  observers,  especially  in  the  sciences, 
more  logical  reasoners,  and  love  to  try  experiments. 
"In  history,  girls  do  more  reference  reading  and 
get  a  better  hold  on  the  history  of  art  and  cus- 
toms. Boys  profit  more  by  a  study  of  the  causes 
that  underlie  great  historic  movements.  In  mathe- 
matics, boys  do  more  original  work.  It  requires 
more  energy  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  to  secure 
home  work  (on  the  part  of  the  boys). (7,  8)  As 
a  result  of  several  years  of  experience,  in  this  high 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  223 

school,  in  teaching  boys  and  girls  in  separate  classes 
during  the  first  two  years  of  their  course,  it  has 
been  found  that  many  more  boys  stay  in  school 
than  formerly,  their  scholarship  has  so  distinctly 
improved  as  to  be  equal  if  not  superior  to  that 
of  the  girls,  and  both  sexes  seem  on  the  whole  to 
be  happier  in  their  work. (8) 

It  is  manifest  that  this  plan  of  "limited  segre- 
gation" can  be  worked  out  only  in  a  large  school 
Possible  in  where  it  is  necessary,  in  any  case, 

large  schools  t0  section  the  classes.    In  smaller 

schools  the  difference  in  the  reaction  of  the  sexes 
must  be  met  by  more  skilful  and  sympathetic  teach- 
ing. In  every  such  school  the  supervising  officers 
must  be  on  the  alert  to  see  that  the  methods  of 
instruction  do  not  develop  altogether  in  favor  of 
the  girl.  The  point  of  view  of  the  just  maturing 
boy  must  be  studied  and  he  must  be  allowed  to 
work  in  such  a  way  as  not  continually  to  sug- 
gest that  he  is  not  as  capable  as  the  girl.  Much 
of  this  could  be  accomplished  through  the  plans  of 
supervised  study,  referred  to  above,  which  many 
schools  are  now  trying  out. 

With  these  brief  suggestions  as  to  needful 
adaptations  on  the  part  of  the  high  school  to  the 
human  nature  of  boys  and  girls,  the  chapter,  and 
with  it  the  volume,  may  be  brought  to  a  close. 
Not  every  possible  "moral"  has  been  pointed  out, 
nor  need  it  be.  The  social  needs  and  their  suit- 
able satisfaction  have  not  been  taken  up  but  they 


224  THE   HIGH-SCHOOL   AGE 

have  been  amply  treated  elsewhere  by  others,  as 
well  as  by  the  present  writer.  (9,  10) 

It  is  the  hope  of  the  writer  that  these  brief 
chapters,  on  this  most  interesting  period  of  life, 
may  lead  some  readers  to  a  new  and  profitable  inter- 
est in  the  study  of  the  human  nature  of  the  high- 
school  pupil. 

Authors  referred  to  in  the  text: 

(1)  Raymer,  J.  W.,  Advisory  Systems  in  High 

Schools,  Educational  Review,  44:466. 

(2)  Slattery,  Margaret,   The  Girl  in  Her  Teens. 

(3)  Reavis,  The  Importance  of  a  Study  Program 

for  High-School  Pupils,  School  Review,  19 : 

398. 

(4)  Breslich,  E.  R.,  Teaching  High-School  Pupils 

How  to  Study,  School  Review,  20 :505« 
(  5  )    Wiener,  W.,  Home  Study  Reform,  School  Re- 
view, 20:526. 

(6)  Rynearson,  E.,  The  Conference  Hour  in  the 

Pittsburgh  High  Schools,  School  Review, 
20 :246. 

(7)  Armstrong,  J.  E.,  Limited  Segregation,  School 

Review,  14:726. 

(8)    ,  Advantages  of  Limited  Segre- 
gation, School  Review,  18 :339- 

(9)'    King,  I.,  Education  for  Social  Efficiency,  New 

York,  191 3. 
(10)    ,  Social  Aspects  of  Education, 

New  York,  191 2. 

References  for  further  reading  and  study: 
Maxwell,  W.,  The  Attitude  of  the  American  Par- 
ent Toward  Education,  Educational  Review, 
45:167. 


PUPILS'    NEEDS  225 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  The  Influence  of  the  Number  of 
Men  Teachers  upon  the  Enrolment  of  Boys 
in  Public  High  Schools,  Educational  Review, 

3771- 


THE  END 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ABILITY:  of  high-school  entrants,  6,  189,  203;  relation  of 
to  continuance  in  high  school,  200. 

ADDAMS,  JANE,  quoted,  86,  91,  101,  111,  120. 

ADJUSTMENT:  lack  of  fine,  in  high  schools,  1,  37;  diffi- 
culty of,  in  early  teens,  78,  128;  younger  pupils  more 
ready  to,  193;  dependent  on  understanding  the  pupil, 
207;  to  degree  of  maturity  of  pupil,  58. 

ADOLESCENT,  THE:  where  found  in  school,  2;  abundance 
of  energy  in,  81;  why  study,  85;  character  of,  87;  edu- 
cational need  of,  103;  aspiration,  106;  types,  113.  See 
Youth. 

ADULT,  influence  in  later  teens,  118,  130. 

ADVISORY  SYSTEMS:  in  high  school,  210;  functions  of, 
212;  relation  of  to  parent,  213;  personality  of  advisors, 
215;  future  of  system,  217. 

AGE:  school  distribution  illustrated  by,  Philadelphia,  2; 
causes  of  many,  4,  37 ;  of  high-school  entrants,  185 ; 
distribution  of,  187;  median  of,  188;  relation  of  to 
graduation  expectancy,  191 ;  ideal  entering  age,  196. 

AMUSEMENTS,  of  high-school  pupils,  182. 

ARMSTRONG,  J.  E.,  on  segregation  of  sexes,  222. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES,  of  youth,  73. 

"AVERAGE  YOUTH,  THE,"  72,  82. 

BOAS,  R,  quoted,  24. 
BOURNE,  R.  S,  quoted,  75,  87.  99,  115. 
BREAK,  with  earlier  years  to  be  avoided,  90. 
"BRIGHT"  little  boys,  43. 
BURGERSTEIN,  LEO,  quoted,  27. 

CALDWELL.  O.  W..  quoted.  7. 

CHARACTER-DEVELOPMENT,  of  later  teens,  111. 
CHILDHOOD  VALUES,  conservation  of,  89. 
CLASSIFICATION,  of  pupils  on  basis  of  physiological  age, 

38 
COEDUCATION,  the  problem  of,  220. 
CONTINUITY   OF   DEVELOPMENT:    66;    illustrated   in 

physical  growth,  68;  between  childhood  and  youth,  85. 

229 


230  INDEX 

COOPERATION  of  school  and  home,  64. 
CORNELL,  W.,  quoted,  26. 
CRAMPTON,  C.  W.,  quoted,  41,  43,  55,  58 
CRISES  in  development,  97. 

DELAND,  MARGARET,  quoted,  98. 

DELINQUENT  pupils  in  Minneapolis,  175. 

DEVELOPMENT,  a  continuous  process,  67. 

DISEASE,  resistance  to  high  in  early  teens,  19. 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  PUPILS:  as  to  ma- 
turity, 193 ;  as  to  age  of  entrance,  190 ;  as  to  vocational 
interest,  163 ;  as  to  time  spent  to  finish,  198. 

DISTINCT  PERIODS  OF  DEVELOPMENT,  an  illusion, 
66. 

DREAMS,  of  youth,  76,  147. 

DRESS,  problem  of  high-school  girls,  64. 

EARLY  ENTRANTS  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL:  percentage  of, 
191 ;  relation  of  to  graduation,  191. 

EARLY  MATURITY,  favors  good  scholarship,  50. 

EARLY  TEENS:  mental  character  of,  74;  religious  attitude 
in,  77. 

ECONOMIC  STATUS,  of  high-school  pupils,  157. 

ELIMINATION :  from  high  school,  5 ;  greatest  in  first  two 
years,  6;  relation  of  to  pubertal  period,  32;  varies  in 
different  parts  of  country,  33;  relation  to  social  condi- 
tions, 34. 

EVENINGS,  spent  at  home  by  high-school  pupils,  173 

FEEBLE-MINDED  CHILD,  growth  of,  57. 
FOSTER,  W.  L.,  referred  to,  39,  43. 
FRIENDSHIP,  significance  of  in  youth,  118. 

GIRLS'  DEVELOPMENT:  earlier  than  boys',  12,  16;  va- 
rious growth  phases,  16;  often  superior  to  boys  in 
studies,  45 ;  causes  of,  45. 

GODDARD,  H.,  referred  to,  56. 

GRADUAL  CHANGES,  83. 

GRADUATES:  a  younger  group,  195;  quality  of  work  of, 
compared  with  that  of  non-graduates,  200. 

GROWTH:  rapid  in  early  teens,  12,  16;  relation  of  accelera- 
tion in,  to  sex  maturity,  13,  20;  curve  of  individual 
sharp,  14;  influence  of  good  economic  conditions  on, 
21 ;  continuity  of  processes,  of,  68. 

HALL  AND  TANNER,  quoted,  19. 
HARTWELL,  referred  to,  20. 


INDEX  231 

HIGH-SCHOOL  ELIMINATION:  in  New  York,  5;  nupils 
of  superior  ability,  6;  small  percentage  finishing,  7;  the 
"big  boy"  and  the,  58;  methods  adapted  to  little  chil- 
dren, 58;  in  retrospect,  125;  values  in,  152;  character  of 
pupils  of,  154;  adjustment  to  younger  pupils  best,  198. 

HOME  LIFE:  of  high-school  pupil,  173;  work  at  home,  176; 
cooperation  with  school,  64. 

IDEAL  TEACHER,  the  pupils'  conception  of  the,  136. 

IDEALISM,  of  youth,  105,  148. 

ILL  HEALTH:    not  normal  in  youth,  20,  25,  26;   varying 

views  of,  26. 
INCREASE,  in  high-school  attendance,  7. 
INDIVIDUAL  VARIATIONS,  in  youth,  77. 
INTEREST,  of  high-school  pupils  in  studies,  167. 
IOWA  HIGH-SCHOOL  PUPILS,  163,  166,  169,  173. 

JOHNSON,  J.  R,  reference  to,  204. 
JONES,  R.  M.,  quoted,  74. 

MATURE  BOY,  in  lower  grades  dull,  43,  58. 

MATURITY:  degree  of  in  a  ninth  grade  class,  193;  differ- 
ences in  at  same  age,  48. 

MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT:  in  relation  to  physiological 
maturity,  28,  36,  38,  40,  50-54;  new  mental  outlook  of 
youth,  42. 

MENTAL  READJUSTMENT,  period  of  unfavorable  to 
high-school  entrance,  197. 

MIDDLE  TEENS:   traits  of,  79;  new  interests  in,  80. 

MISSIONARY  ZEAL,  of  youth,  152. 

MORAL  TRAINING:  opportunity  for  in  later  teens,  120; 
often  neglected,  121 ;  a  suggested  method,  122. 

MOVING-PICTURE  SHOWS,  attended,  183. 

NERVOUSNESS,  one  cause  of,  184. 

NEW  SELF,  of  middle  teens,  82,  95. 

NEW  YORK  AND  IOWA  HIGH-SCHOOL  STUDENTS : 
compared  in  vocational  interests,  161 ;  as  to  value  of  a 
high-school  training,  165;  as  to  age  at  entrance  and 
elimination,  195. 

OVER-STIMULATION,  in  modern  life.  102,  183. 
OVERWORK  IN  THE  MIDDLE  TEENS,  nature  of  dan- 
ger, 59,  184. 

PARTIES,  number  attended,  182. 

PASSING  GRADES,  in  an  Iowa  high  school,  169. 

PERMANENCE,  of  traits  of  later  teens,  110. 


232  INDEX 

PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT  IN  TEENS,  phases  of,  11, 

61,  62. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL   AGE:     relation   to   elimination,   36;    a 

basis   for   classification,  38,  41 ;   relation   of  to  school 

success,  41 ;  in  one  grammar  school,  47 ;  difference  in 

same  age  groups,  48. 
PUBERTY:  a  critical  period,  32;  relation  of  to  elimination, 

32. 
PUPILS'  ESTIMATE,  of  value  of  high-school  education,  165. 

RACIAL  STOCKS,  in  New  York  high  schools,  157. 
RAYMER,  J.  W.,  quoted,  211,  217. 

SCHOOL  GROUPS,  complex,  48. 

SECOND  BIRTH,  the,  84. 

SELF-ASSERTION  OF  YOUTH:  significance  of,  93,  95; 
self-confidence  of,  112;  self-help,  116. 

SEX  IMPULSE:  develops  gradually,  69;  the  hidden  spring, 
100;  need  of  diffusion,  101;  secondary  manifestations, 
104;  evidence  of,  149;  differences  of  in  high  school, 
221;  in  studies,  168. 

SEX  MATURITY:  variation  in  time  of,  12,  21,  22;  economic 
influence  on,  21 ;  influence  of  environment,  23 ;  charac- 
ter of  late  maturity,  23,  24,  27;  relation  of  to  mental 
development,  28. 

SEX  SEGREGATION,  limited  in  high  school,  222. 

SHARP  AND  NEUMANN,  on  moral  training,  123. 

SHIELDS,  T.  E.,  quoted,  75. 

SLATTERY,  M.,  quoted,  93,  119,  184. 

SMALL  VS.  LARGE  HIGH  SCHOOLS,  205. 

SMEDLEY,  F.,  referred  to,  56. 

SOCIAL  INFLUENCES,  in  teens,  83. 

SOCIAL  SERVICE,  youth's  interest  in,  123. 

STATISTICAL  METHOD,  limitations  of,  72. 

STUDY  HABITS:  171;  relation  to  success  in  school,  172; 
interest  in  studies,  167 ;  lack  of  ability  to  study,  218. 

STUDY  PROGRAMS:   219;  supervised  study,  219. 

TEACHER:    the  high-school,  128;  who  "understands,"  131; 

influence  on  pupils'  conduct,  134;  the  ideal  teacher,  136; 

friendly  relations  needed,  209;  as  advisor,  215. 
THEATERS,  number  attended  per  month,  183. 
TRANSITIONS:    sudden,  68;  illusory,  97;  reasons  for,  69; 

gradual,  73,  83 ;  years  of,  145. 
TYPES:  unusual,  significance  of,  73;  adolescent  types,  113. 

UNCONCERN,  of  early  youth  illustrated,  74. 
UNCONVENTIONALITY,  of  teens,  77. 
UNUSUAL  TYPES,  of  adolescents,  73. 


INDEX  233 

VAN  DEN  BURG,  J.  K.,  quoted,  5,  156,  159,  165,  202. 
VARIATIONS,  great  individual  in  youth,  77,  83,  127. 
VOCATIONAL  INTEREST:    151,   159;  and  outside  work. 
180. 

WISE  DIRECTION,  of  youth  needed,  115. 

WORK:    at  home  of  Iowa  high-school  pupils,  176;  work  for 

pay   outside  of   home,   177;   relation  of   to  vocational 

problem,  179. 
WORRY,  children  in  teens  should  be  free  from,  61. 

YOUTH:  an  educational  opportunity,  7;  difficult  to  describe, 
71;  individual  variations,  77;  high  spiritual  intensity,  88; 
self-assertion  of,  93;  a  dreamer,  76,  147;  sense  of  mys- 
tery, 97;  idealism,  105,  148;  and  genius,  107;  and  crime, 
108;  self-help,  116;  friendship,  118;  moral  opportunity 
of,  120;  interest  in  social  service,  123,  152.  See  Ado- 
lescent and  High  School. 


AA    000  781  450    2 


